The Effects of Purple
by EmbersOfLife
Summary: "The wind smacked her face and froze the tears that began to lapse from her eyes. Almost there, she could see the other side! "Just a few more steps and it will be all over, you'll be safe!" she told herself to try and encourage her tiresome legs that began to wobble." ... DonatelloXOC
1. Chapter 1

**-This is the first story I've ever published. I'm really nervous xD but I hope you like it. Please leave a review and tell me if I should continue with the story I will really appreciate it Thank you so much!-**

**Disclaimer- I don't own TMNT...obviously..xD**

:Chapter 1:

Austria Westly pulled out her camera and snapped a photo of the artwork in front of her. "Austria your such a nerd" her friend Madison snapped.

"What?! I'm not a nerd! Don't you think this stuff is interesting?" she said.

"Yeah, as interesting as a cow eating grass" Austria frowned as Madison and her girlfriends laughed aloud. "Seriously Aus, there's nothing interesting about "The last Super" she hissed. "Its pronounced "The Last SUPPER" you no brain" Madison flipped her hair and popped a hip. "Whatever, come on girls lets leave Aus to her boring research" They snickered at her and left down the museum hallway.

"They don't get it" Austria lowered her camera and frowned. "They just don't get it" "Don't get what?" Austria whipped herself around to get a look at the strange voice originating from behind was her history teacher Mr. Pawn. "Oh nothing, I was just…taking photos and the other girls were making fun of me you know, the usual" Mr. Pawn laughed and stared at the artwork mounted in the protective glass.

"Don't take it to heart Austria, some people just don't find Leonardo Da Vinci very inspiring" Aussie chuckled to herself "Some people don't find ANTHING inspiring" she smiled angelically. "You're a good student Aus, lets keep it that way" "Sure thing Mr. Pawn" He nodded his head and left. "Who the hell is Leonardo Da…." Aus got a closer look at the painting's inscription "Oh….right"

Meanwhile, beneath the endless sewers of New York City:

"I swear ta God Mikey if you don't cut it out im ganna!" "Your ganna what? Explode? Well that my brother may be my goal here HAHA"

Raphael chased his younger brother endlessly around the living room of their lair. Raph's superior endurance allowed him to grab the smaller turtle and pin him to the floor with no trouble.

"geeze Raph this is a little odd don't you think?" Mike laughed in a sinister tone. "Well Michelangelo it wouldn't be odd if ya would just CONTROL YOURSELF!" Raph yelled at him furiously which only made Mike laugh even more "Your funny Raphie" Suddenly, Raphael growled and blew air strongly out his nostrils "I told you…..NEVA TO CALL ME RAPHIE!"

He pulled out one of his 6 inch sais and slammed it hard next to his little brothers head. "Leo! Raph's trying to kill me again!" Mikey screamed "What?! You started it by poking me 800 times in the frickin shell you numskull!" Mike laid his hands flat on the floor and pushed up sending Raphael flying off him.

Raph was the largest of his three other brothers. He had dark forest green skin which gave his face, covered by a red mask with a few tears here and there, a more threatening look. Mikey, was short and helpless but being the wise cracker of the family, he easily earned his reputation. His yellow green skin was complimented with an Orange mask and he wasn't as muscular and toned as Raphael and compared to him, Mike was a shrimp.

"Doesn't Raphie wanna play?" He grinned and said in a girlish voice. Thankfully, he knew better to start running in advance from the anger driven Raphael. "Knock it off you two!" Leonardo leaped down from the balcony to the upper level and landed hard on the floor. He rolled his shoulders back and crossed his arms.

"Good mornin fearless" Raph imitated his stance and grinned. "I don't find you amusing Raphael. Ive been listening to you two fight all morning! And not only me, Donnie and Sensei are trying to train and you guys are out here making altercations!"

"oooooh, big word someone fetch the dictionary" Mikey hid behind the couch to escape Leo's wrath. Leonardo was the oldest of the four and naturally fell into the position as the leader of his brothers. His eyes were coverd by a light blue mask that clashed with his sea green skin.

"Im serious Michelangelo!" He also tended to use his brothers full names whenever he was angry instead of their nicknames. Something he picked up from his Sensei, who never used their nicknames anyway which probably meant he was mad at them all the time.

"Relax dude!" Mikey shrieked when Leo went lunging for him behind the couch. He screamed like a little girl and took off upstairs. "I love it when your angry" Raph grinned and shot his brother a wink. He rolled his eyes and pointed one of this three fingers at him. "Try me, ill knock you on your shell" "Geeze bro you sound like me more and more everyday" He chuckled "That's because you three are getting harder and harder to deal with everyday!" Leo stormed off to the dojo with a kick in his step.

:Meanwhile in Brooklyn:

"Austria! This food is cold you little brat!" Austria's mom yelled at her from on the couch in their living room.

"Sorry mam! I'll heat it up for you right away!" Aussie stopped cleaning the dishes and ran to her mothers aid. She shoved the plate of roast beef and sauerkraut into her daughters pruned hands "and don't make it too hot! Or im puttin yah in the basement for the night!" she screamed. "Yes mam, Sorry Mam" Aussie quickly ran back to the kitchen to heat the food. She tried to set the old broken microwave for 1 minute but it backfired and punched in 10 minutes. "Oh whatever, I'll get it out in a minute"she said to herself and went back to finish the piled dishes from preparing the meal.

She stared out the window in front of the sink. Her house may be old, cracked and falling apart, but the one thing she did have was a beautiful view of the city. She's lived so close to it all these years and has never actually been there. Shes asked her mom every year on her birthday to go but her request was always ignored.

She pictured herself walking its streets, taking photos, oh how she loved to take pictures. Her Grandma had given her the Nixon camera as a gift before she passed away a few years ago. She had to hide it under her bed in fear that her mom would take it away from her and sell it to pay rent. She imagined herself on wall street, and broadway. Seeing her first broadway show would mean everything in the world!

"Aussie! Whats taking yah so long im starvin over here!" Austria gasped and ran to the microwave and pulled the broken door open. 3 minutes was left on the timer and the food was soggy and steaming hot.

"Oh umm…nothing mam! I'll have it out to you in a minute!" she used a towel to pull the burning plate out then she tried to fan it off as quick as she could. "No I want it now!" her mother screeched. "uh…uh..coming right up! You sure you don't want a drink or nothing to go with it?" "AUSTRIA!" she carried the plate out on a towel and handed it to her mother.

"I don't want the goddamn towel!" she said "Mom…I mean mam, Its really hot" "I thought I told you not to burn it! Finish the dishes then go to your room! I'll let your father deal with you when he gets back from work!" Austria started to cry "Please Mom, Mam, Im sorry. Please don't…" "GO AWAY!" her mom yelled directly in her face.

Aus started bawling and instead of going back to the kitchen, she took off out the door.

"AUSTRIA! Get back here! you'll be sorry! I promise you! YOU WILL BE SORRY!" Thankfully her mother was 350 pounds to heavy to get up off the couch and chase her.

She's never done something like this before, she's never taken off against her mothers command and it felt so wrong…but it felt so good. She felt free as she ran as fast as she could down her community road, the wind blowing her long brown hair behind her except for a few pieces which were stuck to her tearing face. She ran, leaving nothing but a trail of sorrow and a broken childhood behind her and she knew where she was going. New York City.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for the reviews! I decided to continue with this story! I love writing it and most of all I like to see that other people are enjoying it as much as I am! I really love your reviews! You guys are the best.**

**I forgot to mention this is set in the 2003 Universe**

**Enjoy Chapter 2! And thanks again for the support! **

Chapter 2:

The night dragged on and the air was getting colder by the hour. New York City was farther away than she thought. Perhaps leaving at an earlier time would have been a smarter Idea. Austria struggled to keep her body warm as she walked down the busy streets of Brooklyn. It's been 2 hours since she had run away from home and every step she took was a shot through the heart and a guilt trip about leaving her mother against her wishes. But she had to, Right? What if her father came to find her? What if her mom called the cops? What if…What if… Those words trailed on in her mind

"What if I succeed" She accidently said aloud. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed her. She saw nothing but an old man nestled up in the corner of a building and a few teenage girls in short skirts and fish net tights standing at the corner of the street. They stopped talking and looked at the oncoming Austria.

They pointed and laughed as she stood by the edge of the street and waited for the light to say "Walk" and allow her to cross safely.

"You aint ganna get any work lookin like that doll face" one of them said. Austria just looked at them and shook her head, rather embarrassed.

Suddenly, a dark car pulled up to the edge and stopped right in front of her. The dark tinted window rolled down to reveal a middle aged man smoking a cigar and wearing dark sunglasses. He looked at the other girls, then at Austria.

"How much "He said in a deep tone. The other girls giggled as Austria's jaw dropped

"Excuse me!?" she finally said "I aint no prostitute you good for nothing son of a bitch!"

The man was taken aback and the other girls laughed at her hysterically. "Feisty, Just how I like em" the man said with a grin. Austria scuffed her feet and took off across the street but not before flipping the man, and the girls, a good look at her middle finger.

**:At the Turtle's** Lair:

Leo took a deep breath, held it in, and then exhaled slowly. He's been doing this for the last hour in the dojo in an awkward position on the floor while his father Master Splinter, a wise, old mutant rat that rescued him and his brothers when they were just turtle tots, sat across from him and held a candle in his palms.

"You are not focused Leonardo" he scolded. "Sorry Sensei, my meditation has been a little… off lately" Leo calmly stated

"I understand your brothers have been most hard to deal with these days, but you must try and remember you are their leader, and you must be improving on your training everyday" Splinter said. Suddenly the fire on the tip of the candle moved slightly to the left, then centered again.

"Good" Splinter praised. Leo was practicing one of his favorite skills taught by his sensei. The ability to manipulate the elements which was said to be an old Japanese folk tale until Splinter had tested it for himself. The training was a hard and long, exhausting process and required extreme concentration and only a mastered ninja warrior could deliver the technique with ease which was why Leo was so grumpy lately.

"Hey, I think I've finally…." Leo was cut off when a screaming Michelangelo and a furious Raphael burst into the dojo. Mike of course, was running away from his older brother. The fire on the candle bent back and forth violently until it burnt out completely. Leo growled and slammed his fists on his knees.

"Can't I get a moments peace!" Leo stood up and brought his brothers to attention.

"Your brother is trying to train and you two are not helping!" Splinter was also in a standing position scolding his two other sons.

"But Raph…" Splinter silenced the small orange masked turtle.

"You two will conduct tonight's patrol! ALONE! Now go!" He commanded them

Raph and Mikey sighed, bowed to their sensei, and then left the dojo.

**:Later that evening:**

"This is all yah fault Mikey!" Raph and his brother were running across the downtown cities roof tops listening to the car horns, yelling pedestrians and angry store owners below. They stopped at the corner of a building and looked out across the city. It was dark, and when you looked up at the sky you could see a million stars which were rare in such an air polluted place.

"Well you had to make the Mountain Dew flat by shaking it like your money maker!" Mikey grunted

"I'm about to make YOU flat in a minute!" Raph crunched his fist into a ball and threatened him. Mike shrieked and covered his face with his hands. Raph sighed and calmed down which was also rare.

"So...Where yah wanna go Mikey? We've already patrolled the entire city in less than 2 hours" Raph sat down on the edge of the roof and began to throw small rocks into the air.

"Well…" Mikey looked around to find a point of interest. "We haven't been to the brook bridge in a while!" He exclaimed.

"The what now?"

"I thought you were a New Yorker! The Brook Bridge, Big Ben, the Gates to Heaven…."

"What's that last one supposed to mean!?" Raph stated

"uh…well the bridge tends to be a popular….uh...how can I make this turtle friendly… uhh…" Mikey paused and scratched his head

"Yeah, Yeah I get it, you could have just said the east side of the city instead of making my head hurt" Raph jumped up and flipped off the side of the building with extreme grace and his little brother swiftly followed.

**:Austria:**

"There it is!" Austria held her breath as the beautiful city engulfed her line of vision. Now the only thing keeping her from freedom…was the East River. She could just take the Brooklyn Bridge over but she had a terrible fear of bridges. A lot of people are afraid of bridges and maybe that was why they built the underwater tunnels instead right? Of course, that would be just as terrifying…

"Ok Aus, you got this…just…take the bridge over then your home free. Don't be a chicken…you can do this" Austria encouraged herself as much as she could and after a long mental debate, she found herself at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. People were riding across the separated walkways on bikes which she found rather strange. It had to have been at least 11:00pm by now! But this is New York City…and sleep is underrated.

She took her first step, then her second, until she was slowly crossing the noisy trestle. It was so much colder up here. The wind hit her face like 1,000 needles piercing her skin at the same time. She had no jacket on either. Just a pair of ripped shorts and a worn T-Shirt was all she had against the icy blast. All her clothes were hand-me-downs that she inherited from her family, if she even dared to call them that.

"Holy Shit its freezing up here!" She finally yelled at the top of her lungs. She was now halfway across, halfway there. Nothing could stop her now…not even…

A car horn blasted in her ear. She swore under her breath and looked to see what Idiot had the audacity to…

Her jaw dropped as she stared right into the heartless, spiteful eyes of her father.

"NO!" she screamed as loud as she could and began to run across the remainder of the bridge hoping and praying to a God she didn't believe in, that somehow someway she could escape the evil man she was forced to call her dad. If she could just get to the other side she could take cover in an alley way.

"AUSTRIA!" the fat, Ill looking man screamed out his window and kept blasting his horn. Cars crossing from the other direction honked back having no idea what he was doing and no idea why he was holding up the traffic.

Austria ran and ran and even when she became out of breath and wearisome she kept running. She wouldn't let her future slip into the sinister claws of her abusive father. He would kill her for sure for pulling such a stunt. Maybe not kill her, but bring her quite close.

The wind smacked her face and froze the tears that began to lapse from her eyes. Almost there, she could see the other side! "Just a few more steps and it will be all over, you'll be safe!" she told herself to try and encourage her tiresome legs that began to wobble. Suddenly, she heard a turbulent sound and at the same time, her upper left thigh became unusually cold. She didn't think much of it and she didn't really care. She made it across the bridge and that's all that mattered. She took cover into the nearest shop she could find that was open. It happened to be a pizza parlor and when she burst through the door out of breath, the owner nearly pissed his pants.

"We are closing" the man said in an Italian accent. "Oh my" he cupped his hand over his mouth and walked quickly over to her. He spoke some strange words she couldn't understand and then a second worker came from behind the counter.

"I'm sorry I was just trying to get away from the cold for a quick sec" Aus said out of breath as she fixed her wind-blown hair. The man came unusually close to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You are hurt?" he asked

"No, I'm not hurt. It's was just some wind that's all" she protested

"Your leg" he began to display a tone of worry in his voice

"My…" Austria looked down at her feet. She saw the long red stained trail running down her left thigh and then that's when she felt the pain. It shot through her back like a bullet and she was forced to drop to the floor in agony. The smell of blood swamped her nose and made her retch the little contents in her stomach.

She tried not to believe it, she tried so hard to throw the idea away but it invaded her mind like a virus. Her father had shot her. she knew he owned a gun and he carried the damn thing everywhere. That was the cold feeling in her thigh she had felt earlier and it made up for the sound she had heard as well. She began to cry and not at the pain that slowly was creeping through her body, but the fact that everything she had hoped for herself, was washed away by her idiot father's pride. She would die here, she could finally escape her troubles. This was her last resort...the very thought made her smile. Her eyes slowly shut, and she crept into a deep sleep that she hoped she would never wake from.

**I know I used a few advanced words but I needed to widen the vocabulary a bit to make it more interesting xD**

**Chapter 3 COMING SOON. I will try and upload one chapter each night maybe two on the weekends!**


	3. Chapter 3

**: Short chapter because this scene has a lot of meaning and deserves its own spotlight :D Don't worry I won't have these kinds of chapters very often xD **

: Chapter 3:

"Ughh..." Austria's eyes flickered to life. The pain in her thigh brought her back to reality and she faced the sorry truth that she had survived that Incident with her father. She shook her head to make sure this was all real, that what had happened to her had really happened to her. She slowly slid her hand down her thigh and when she lifted it back again, it was clean. No blood. She moved her head down to get a better look at the wound and to her amazement she saw a white bandage wrapped around the area where the lesion would have been. The gauze however was stained with blood in the center. It only took one year of Health class for her to know she was probably still bleeding from the inside and she needed medical help, fast. When she finally got a look at her surroundings her heart almost skipped a beat.

"Where the Hell am I?" she murmured. But she knew exactly where she was, an alley way, in the streets of NYC. That good for nothing pizza man must have left her for dead! Wait, he obviously didn't leave her for dead. Was he the one that wrapped her wound? She was in a sitting position leaning against a brick wall. Her body was stiff and she could barely move and when she tried, pain shot through her leg and forced her to sit back down.

She wrapped her hand around the wound and tried to remove the gauze

"Wait" A calm voice from above her spoke. She quickly looked up but was instantly blinded by the morning sun. Holy crap, how long has she been out!? Panic set through her body like a wildfire. She couldn't move, was in danger of an infection and now she was hearing voices!

"Let me help you" It spoke again and this time she located the source. A figure jumped down from the fire escape of the building she was leaning against and landed in a squatted position in front of her. He had on a long tan trench coat and a black fedora. He didn't look to fashionable but his outfit matched the weather which in this case, was extremely cold.

"Who are you?" Aussie tried to look into his eyes but he tilted his head down. "I patched you up. I didn't see what happened to you but I saw the pizza guy drop you here in the alley" his voice was soft and gentle, something Austria wasn't use to.

"You mean he just…let me out here to die?!" She said in a disturbed voice. The man slowly nodded his head.

"You said you put this bandage on me?" she asked. He nodded again. "How did you manage that without taking my shorts off?" The stranger suddenly became embarrassed and tilted his head lower.

"I didn't look I promise. I just wanted to help you" He calmly said. Austria smiled at him. He was a bit large to be considered a "normal" sized person and it was obvious that the coat he was wearing was a bit on the small side seeing how his biceps were apparent.

"You'll need further medical care. I didn't have all the supplies I needed to fix you up properly. I couldn't get the bullet out either" He proclaimed

"You tried to get the bullet out? And I didn't wake up?"

"No, you were out cold. I was shocked myself, you did lose a lot of blood and your still losing it so you better come with me" He stood up slowly

"I don't enjoy going places with strangers" she uttered. The man chuckled to himself.

"With all due respect miss, if you stay out here alone much longer you'll find out what a stranger really is. New York City isn't exactly my definition of "Good Hospitality"" He averred

"What do you mean?" He helped her up off the ground and used his body weight to keep her standing. She winced softly trying to hide the discomfort commencing from her thigh. She threw her arm around his neck and allowed him to assist her.

"Well, the big apple has a wide variety of street thugs to choose from" He teased "Probably every person here has a criminal record"

"Like you?" Austria questioned. He chuckled and shook his head "No not me. Sorry to disappoint you" "Well then that's not everyone is it?" She smiled at him and finally got a good look at his face. It looked like he had a dark complexion but the shade from his hat made it too hard to tell. The one thing she could see was his eyes. There was nothing but a white pigment under what appeared to be some kind of mask.

"What's your name friend?" She asked. He paused for a moment then returned gentle smile.

"Donatello"


	4. Chapter 4

**I woke up at 6 o'clock this morning with ideas and I had to write them down!**

**I felt bad for having such a short Chapter 3 so I made this one extra long! Reviews are always appreciated even if its criticism! Like I said, they keep me going and are a good inspiration when I write!**

: Chapter 4:

**-6 hours before Austria's rescue-**

"Race Yah!" Michelangelo leaped off the shell of his brother Raphael and landed on the next building in front of them. "Last one to the brook bridge is a rotten turtle egg!" He yelled in a playful voice. Raph sighed and grinned. "Well then ya better start runnin slow poke!" Raph took off past his brother and before Mikey's unfocused brain could process it, he was already halfway there. "Hey! No fair you cheater!" Mikey yelled as he sprinted after the red clad turtle.

They performed astonishing flips and exploits off the sides of the small buildings in Eastern New York City. It felt amazing to get out of the confinement of their lair once and awhile. Out here in the open with the protective sleeve of the shadows, they could just be themselves and not have a care in the world, as long as there wasn't any bad guy butt to kick.

"Hey Mikey check this out!" Raph jumped off the side of a building and grabbed onto a flag pole. He spun around it then shot himself 15 feet into the air and landed professionally on the next building below.

"Please! You insult the ninja race my friend!" Mikey got a running start and jumped off the same building. He had leaped high enough to reach the very top of the pole. He used his hands to push off the gold ball at the top, and landed on the next building far ahead from Raph's.

"You know how to make turtle egg salad right Raph? HEHEH see yah Bro!" He waved then kept running.

"Sometimes I wonder why I even put up with him" Raph shook his head. When he began to run again, a blood curdling scream engulfed his ears. It was high pitched enough to be one of Mikeys altercations. He couldn't see his brother over the top of the building and suddenly his heart dropped into his stomach.

"Mikey!" He yelled. Raph climbed the building's fire escape as fast as he could. "Mikey!" He called for his brother but there was no reply. When he reached the top…

"Mikey! What the hell?! Was that you!?" Raph ran to his brother's side.

"Please, I don't scream that much like a girl. Look!" Mike pointed to the Brooklyn Bridge where they could just make out a figure running quickly across it.

"The bridge aint that old! You don't need to run across!" Raph stated

Suddenly there was an ear-piercing BANG! That echo across the East river.

"AHH! When you hear the sound of thunder don't you get to scared! Just grab your Thunder buddy and sing these magic… umph!" Raph slapped Mikey on the head to try and knock some sense into him. "That was a gunshot you knucklehead!"

"Oh…..ok then…hey look a pizza parlor!" Mike pointed to the small shop on the corner of the street.

"Mikey focus! Someone might be in trouble and we gotta help!"

"Maybe it was just fire works!" Mike was satisfied with his brilliant idea. He hated fighting street thugs who had guns and was ready to make 1,000 excuses why they shouldn't help.

"Oh yeah I didn't think of that. There are always fireworks in the middle of DECEMBER!" Raph wailed. Mike lowered his head and smiled angelically. "Look!" He pointed down to the street where the figure they saw running across the bridge had run into the pizza shop.

"Hey now we have a good reason to get a slice!" Raph raised the back of his hand to slap his brother but he jumped away just in time.

"We aint, "getting a slice" Mikey. That girl might be firing shots at people!" Raph exclaimed

"Oh no…...she's ganna kill the pizza dude!" Mike screamed and pretended to faint. Raph picked up his younger brother and pointed to the store.

"We gotta go help so get yah self together and let's move!" Raph jumped off the side of the building. Mike bit his nails and whined. "I love pizza….but do I love it that much?...uhhh..…OF COURSE I DO!" he ran off the building and followed Raphael across the street. They positioned themselves on the side of the store and out of site of the windows.

"Mike…sneak up and try and peek in." Raph pointed to the windows in front of them.

"Ugh…why do I always have to do the dangerous stuff?"

"Just do it!" Raph silently yelled

He gulped and took a deep breath. Slowly, with his shell against the wall, he crept up to the first set of windows. He leaned over just enough so he could get a look into the store.

"Well… What do yah see?" Raph whispered

"I see….I see, a sign that says 50% off when you buy two large pies! *gasp* only till Tuesday!? What kind of junk is that?!"

"I swear if you don't tell me what she's doin in there im ganna kick your ass back to last week!"

"Eww! She just puked all over the nice clean floor!" Mikey squealed.

"That's it move ova!" Raph crept up and moved the small turtle out of the way. He slowly peeked in to see for himself.

"She wasn't the one that fired the gun, but it looks like she was the target. There's blood everywhere!" There was sympathy in his voice. His heart ached as he watched the young girl's body go limp. "Why isn't that guy doin anything to help her!?" They watched as the person who appeared to be the owner, started to yell at another worker.

"What are they saying?" Mikey asked

"I don't know Michelangelo. My ability to hear through walls is a bit on the rusty side" Raph snapped.

"Well ok then Mr. Grumpy shell!"

The store owner and his assistant left the girl on the floor for a minute, and then came back with a mop and bucket. He pointed to the blood and bile on the floor then the assistant began to clean it up.

"Are you kiddin me?! That's it were goin in there!" Raph began to advance towards the entrance but Mike grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Look" he Pointed

The owner picked up the girl in his arms. Her head hung down awkwardly and she looked like a ragdoll in his hands. He used his foot to open the door to his shop and he walked out.

"Hide!" Raph and Mikey leaped into the nearest alley way and took cover. The man walked down the street they had been sitting on and paused when he reached the alley. He looked around anxiously as to make sure no one was looking then laid the unconscious girl against the wall out of sight. He stared at her for a moment, and then walked away with blood stained onto his clothes. As soon as he left, the two turtles came out of hiding and approached the body.

"Is it dead?" Mikey poked the girl with one of his Nun-Chucks.

"Knock it off!" Raph pushed him away then knelt down next to the human. He moved her long brown hair out of her face and held his fingers close to her neck.

"She's still alive. Man that's a nasty wound" Raph looked at her blood stained shorts. On her upper left thigh was where the blood was originating from that ran down her legs. There was a dark red hole and he could confirm the sound he heard earlier was gunfire, and that this girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"What are we ganna do?" Mikey was trembling like the softie he was. "Let's bring her back to the lair! Then Donnie can do something"

"I aint carryin her all the way to the lair. If you haven't figured it out by now, the lair is at the other side of the City! Don could get HERE faster than we could get her THERE." Raph took off his bandana and tied it tightly above her wound. "What are yah waitin for?! Call him!"

"Right Right!" Mike took out his shell cell and called Donatello. "What if he doesn't come? He's been in a mood ever since…you know" Mikey started to bite his nails again.

"He'll come…and stop bittin yah nails yah big whimp!"

Donatello dropped down into the alley way with his duffle bag at his side. His purple bandana strings trailed over the front of his plastron and touched his olive green skin.

'AHH! It's raining turtles from the sky!" Mikey screamed

"Woah! How long have you been waiting up there Donnie?!" Raph uttered

"I always come out to the city at night. I saw some guy drop this girl here and was just about to help her but you guys beat me to it. I heard a gunshot though, do you know what happened?" He said in a hushed voice.

"Don't know, think it was a gunshot. She's out cold but still breathin" Raph made way for Don to come through and take a look at the injured girl. He shook his head and sighed.

Don started to pull some things from his bag. He looked at Raph, then at Mikey. "Some space please?"

"Oh right sorry" Raph grabbed Mikey's arm and pulled him back.

"Wow she's pretty isn't she?" Mike tilted his head and smiled. No one said anything but they agreed silently. Her skin was a beautiful light brown and hints of gold complimented her flowing brown hair.

"I wonder what color her eyes are…" Mikey said softly.

"You're a creep you know that?" Raph elbowed his brother playfully.

Don turned on a small hand held light and opened one of the girl's eye lids. "Her pupils are dilating so that's good. Oh and there Hazel Mikey" Don poured a clear liquid onto a cotton swab and started to lightly dab the wound to clear the blood. It started to ooze which meant it was cleaning itself.

"You know what…" Mikey gaged "You guys have fun I think I'm ganna…BLA….go home..." He held his hand over his mouth and climbed the fire escape to the top of the building line.

"I'll take the softie home. Call us and let us know what happens with her alright?" Raph asked

"Sure"

"If I ever find the guy that did this ill turn him inside out" he pounded his fists together then followed Mikey to the roof tops.

Once Don had cleared the blood from her wound he got a feel for how difficult this was going to be. There was an entry wound, but no exist wound and the bullet was nowhere to be seen. He cussed himself out for not bringing enough supplies. A scalpel and a pair of tweezers will have to do.

After several hours of working, he grew weary. The lesion kept opening and bleeding every time he tried to dig in and find the bullet. By now she had lost too much blood and he refused to continue working on her. He applied some vinegar then wrapped her leg with white gauze.

By now the sun began to rise in the east and a soft mist flowed gently over the top of the city. He would have to hide or risk being seen by the human population. But he wasn't just going to leave her here to die. He looked at his surroundings to try and find some kind of disguise. He could hide in the garbage bin…but he could do better than that. A smart mind like his has to come up with something to conceal himself with. He looked up into the alley and saw a clothesline stringing from one building to the other and on it were garments of all kinds. He smiled and used the fire escape to reach it. There was no way his was putting on a woman's' robe so he kept looking until he saw a long tan trench coat of some sort.

He used his bow staff to unhook it from the main line and retrieve it. It was a bit small on him…actually… it was a lot small on him. That's what you get for being a Mutant Turtle and this coat was an extra-large too. He also spotted a black hat clipped awkwardly on the line.

"Who in the world washes a hat and leaves it out to dry?" he said to himself as he reached again with his staff to retrieve it. At least this one fit him nicely but you can't be too picky when no clothing company in the world makes clothes "Turtle Size."

Suddenly, he heard a moan coming from below him. It was the girl, she was waking up! He gazed at her carefully, not wanting to reveal himself just yet.

"Where the hell am I!?" she said in a mumbled voice. She tried to get up but winced and fell back against the wall. It took every bone in his body to keep him from going down and helping her but he had to stay hidden for as long as he could. He knew he would have to say something once she began to remove the gauze from her leg.

"Wait" Don said softly. She looked up and around herself but was blinded by the sun and looked away. "Let me help you" he said again as he jumped down from the building and landed in front of her.

"Who are you?" Her soft hazel eyes gazed deeply into his own. He looked away to keep her from seeing his face. "I patched you up. I didn't see what happened to you but I saw the pizza guy drop you here in the alley"

"You mean he just let me here to die!?" Don's heart skipped a beat. The Humans disgusted him sometimes. How they would leave a helpless person, on the verge of death, lying in the streets. Not only that but it was terribly cold outside too. He nodded at her to confirm what the man had done.

"You said you put this bandage on me?" She asked politely. He nodded again. "How did you manage that without taking my shorts off?" Don's faced flushed red in embarrassment.

"I didn't look I promise. I just wanted to help you" He calmly said. The girl smiled at him.

"You'll need further medical care. I didn't have all the supplies I needed to fix you up properly. I couldn't get the bullet out either" He proclaimed

"You tried to get the bullet out? And I didn't wake up?"

"No, you were out cold. I was shocked myself, you did lose a lot of blood and your still losing it so you better come with me" He stood up slowly

"I don't enjoy going places with strangers" she uttered. Don couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

"With all due respect miss, if you stay out here alone much longer you'll find out what a stranger really is. New York City isn't exactly my definition of "Good Hospitality"" He averred

"What do you mean?" He helped her up off the ground and used his body weight to keep her standing. She winced softly and he knew her thigh was probably getting worse by the minute. She threw her arm around his neck for support.

"Well, the big apple has a wide variety of street thugs to choose from" He teased "Probably every person here has a criminal record"

"Like you?" she questioned. He chuckled and shook his head "No not me. Sorry to disappoint you"

"Well then that's not everyone is it?" She smiled

"What's your name friend?" She asked. He paused for a moment and returned a smile

"Donatello" he said "What's yours?"

"Austria" She smiled again

"That's a lovely name. Very unique"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Don's eyes widened. "No I didn't mean it like that…I was..."

She giggled at him "I know I'm just messing with yah"

He sighed in relief. "Way to almost insult the pretty girl the first day you met her Donatello" He thought to himself. "We better get you to a hospital…" He suggested

"No!" she suddenly tried to pull away from him but he wouldn't let her go. "Please you can't do that! You don't understand!" She kept trying to escape and he had no idea why.

"Ok Ok calm down I won't take you there. But listen, your leg isn't stable and you need help. I'm not letting you go until that happens so you're stuck with me I'm afraid"

She stopped fighting him and nodded. "If you could do this much couldn't you do the rest Donatello?"

"You can just call me Don, and yes I could but the things I need are back at my Lai….home….at the other end of the city"

"Then let's go there" She insisted

"No! I mean….I can't take you there" He frowned

"Well why not? Please you can't take me to the hospital I'm begging you!" She grabbed the front of his cloak and pulled on it desperately.

"Ok here's the deal…I'll take you to my place and help fix your leg if you tell me why you won't let me take you to the hospital. Deal?" he held out his free hand for her to shake

"Umm….." She stared at his three fingered, green hand in surprise "Is that normal?"

"Umm…..yes and no I suppose. If you don't want to go the ER I guess you should get used to it" You could tell Don was trying to hurry the conversation up before she passed out again from blood loss.

"Sure thing Don…." She used her free hand to shake his and they had a deal. "I'll tell you all about it on the way to you lai home."


	5. Chapter 5

**I changed my Profile name from "FireArrow97" to "EmbersOfLife" because I didn't like having numbers in my name. Don't worry its still me XD**

**Enjoy Chapter 5! This is when things start to get going!**

: Chapter 5:

Leonardo paced back and forth in front of the television set where Michelangelo was trying to watch TV. He swayed side to side on the couch every time Leo blocked his view.

"You know….Leo…" He leaned to the right. "I'm sure Don will be back soon" He leaned to the left.

"He should have been back by now! He always comes back before 7 and its 7:30!" Leo scratched at his bandana strings and made the ends frayed. It was a nasty habit he had whenever he was nervous which tended to be much more these days.

"I understand he's upset about April and everything but…It's no reason to waltz out into the city at night then wait till morning to return!" he started to slowly pull the tiny threads out of the strings one by one.

Michelangelo and Raphael decided not to tell their brother about the girl they recued in the streets. They were afraid that he would explode on them about "how they should be more careful" and "they could have been seen" because whenever he started those kinds of conversations, they never ended. But now, seeing Leo like this, they knew they should probably tell him soon if Don doesn't get back in time.

"Hey Leo I think I can actually see the steam blowin outta ya ears" Raph snicker as he sent one of his Sais piercing through the head of a dojo dummy.

"Leonardo sit, please" Master Splinter handed his eldest son a cup of hot tea as he criss cross applesauced on the floor. "Why are you like this? I understand your training has been much more difficult but one does not simply become as anxious and unfocused as you are"

"I'm sorry sensei, I'm just worried he's ganna be seen and…."

"Ugh here we go again…." Raph mumbled to himself

"Don't you think he should have called at least!?" Leo jumped up abruptly, completely ignoring his tea.

"Not if he's carrying that girl…" Mikey thought to himself

"What?" Leo stood in front of him and crossed his arms.

"Um…..Did I say that out loud?" He smiled innocently. There was a smacking sound from behind them where Raph had probably face palmed.

"What are you talking about Michelangelo?!" Leo demanded an answer

"Um….nothing? hehe" he whimper

Leo put both his hands against the sofa on either side of the small turtle who leaned back into the cushions.

"Where is Donatello?!"

**: Somewhere in Upper NYC:**

"Are we there yet?" Austria complained

"I told you it was on the other side of the city Austria" Don was struggling to support her weight as he was beginning to become tired himself. Several people had noticed the two struggling and offered help but Don always shooed them away as quickly as he could.

"Almost there don't worry. Can you hold in a couple more minutes?" he asked politely

"You said that half an hour ago…" she raised her eyebrows at him

He blushed and apologized for his mistake. He wasn't use to talking to girls other than April O'Neil. His heart started to ache as he thought of her. The red-headed woman he had fallen in love with a few months ago had married a close buddy of his Casey Jones. He remembered that night when Casey had pounced into their lair and announced his proposal to her. It was probably the worst day of Don's life and his brothers knew it too. That's why they had cut him some slack these past couple of months.

"You alright Don?" Austria asked

"Huh?" He snapped back to reality

"I was talking to you and you like…zoned out or something" She looked at him with concern.

"Oh yeah I'm fine. Sorry, what were you saying?" he smiled apologetically

She blinked twice. "Well I was just saying how that guy back there was getting beat up in that alley way" She turned around and pointed to an opening between two buildings. Don looked and he could see some kind of scuffle was going on but he wasn't going to risk Austria to help whoever was back there.

"Shouldn't we do something?" She stopped walking and looked back

"Someone else will help them. We need to get you back to my place" he pulled her to try and get her walking again but she resisted.

"I'm sure every other person has said that. I can take them here hold my hoops" She began to take out her small hooped earrings. Don rolled his eyes in disbelief. Great, as if one Raphael wasn't hard enough.

"You're not going in there" He instantly regretted that statement

She turned slowly and looked at him. "Excuse me? Are you telling me what to do?" Her face flushed red with furry.

"I can't let you go in there Austria! You're hurt enough as it is. Please trust me we need to go" He grabbed her arm but she pulled away. They were now separated and Austria was standing with a slight limp.

"Bite me" She spit in his direction and began to walk/limp to the alley way. He seriously considered walking away and leaving her alone but he quickly dismissed the thought. By the time he was done thinking Austria was already at the alley and had entered into its dark reaches. He had to admit, the girl had guts.

He took off running after her. He knew he would probably have to fight whoever was in there and probably blow his cover. Then Austria wouldn't allow him to help her…man why does life have to be so complicated? He skidded to a halt once he turned into the alley and took in the situation.

A small, skittish looking man was already unconscious on the ground and two huge street thugs were salvaging what they could from his clothes. Those weren't just any street thugs though. He recognized their distinct hair cut and the large purple tattoos all over their bodies.

"Purple Dragons…" Don reached behind him to grab his bow staff but it wasn't there. "Oh right" He ripped off his cloak and threw it on the ground next to him. Now he reached for his bow staff and brought it into ready position. One of the thugs looked up and saw Austria standing there with her fists clenched.

"So you think you can just beat old helpless people up huh?!" The two men stood up and looked at her then started laughing hysterically.

"whatcha ganna do sweetheart? Throw pillows at us?" They laughed again. One guy pulled a steel pipe from his jacket and the other pulled out an iron bat then they slowly started advancing towards her.

Suddenly the two men looked behind her and saw Donatello. He spun his Bow staff rapidly over his head then pointed at them. Austria, who couldn't see him behind her, wondered what the hell they were looking at. When she turned around and her jaw dropped.

"What is that!?" she pointed and screamed

"Austria get behind me!"

Her eyes were wide and her mouth was twitching a little bit. She recognized his voice and those blank white eyes she had seen earlier which were now behind a purple mask. "Donatello?!"

"Just do it!"

Once she snapped back into reality it was too late. One of the dragons grabbed her by the shirt and suspended her into the air.

"This chick with you turtle boy?" They laughed vigorously. He ran his hand down her face. "Not bad for a sewer dweller like yourself"

Don became overpowered with anger. Everything he had ever been upset about for the last few months was fueling him with adrenalin and pumping rage through his veins. He had never felt so furious before and he didn't like the feeling one bit. He slammed the bottom of his staff on the ground and used it to propel himself into the air. His foot kicked out in front of him and made contact with one of the dragon's heads.

He instantly dropped Austria who quickly ran and crowded behind a trash bin. She watched as Donatello used the stick to smack the other thug right in the stomach. He doubled over and fell to the ground. The other one had regained his feet and held the steel pipe in the air. Don blocked his attack then used his foot to kick the dragon square in the chest. When they tried to get up, Don spun the staff in front of him and smacked both of them in the side of their heads. This time, they stayed down.

Austria didn't know what to think. He was green and he had a shell or something attached to his back. He was so strange looking that it was frightening.

"Austria?" He called her name but she didn't respond. He saw her behind the bin and walked towards her.

"Don't come near me!" She screamed. He stopped and put his bow staff away so he could hold his hands in the air.

"Please let me explain" His brow lifted in sympathy.

"I changed my mind. I want to go to the Hospital"

Don laughed and lowered his hands. "Please come out Aussie"

"Don't call me Aussie. Only my friends call me that"

"I'm not your friend?"

"Not anymore you freak!" she scooted tighter behind the bin

Don frowned and sat down on the concrete. "I guess I'm just going to have to wait for you to come out then. But if you could hurry that would be nice. I don't really want anyone to see me" He looked out of the alley where people were walking by, totally not noticing him.

"Yeah no shit! What the hell are you?!" She asked

"Well if you would let me explain" he held out one of his hands to her

She peered out from behind the bin and looked at him. "You're so weird"

He sighed "I'm not weird. I'm just….unique. If it makes you feel any better I have human friends"

"You have human friends? So you're not human? What are you some kind of frog?" she came out a little from behind the bin

"Ummm…No. Frogs don't have shells"

"Hermit Crab?" she asked

"Now you're just being silly" he smiled at her and she giggled softly. She thought maybe she could trust him, and slowly stood up.

"So what was all that Kung-Fu stuff then?" She said, still keeping her distance

"It's actually a long story" Don rubbed the back of his head

"You know…you kind of look familiar" she looked closely at his face and tilted her head "Actually you look very familiar"

"Oh really? So you've seen a mutant turtle before?" Don teased

"No I just…feel like I remember you from somewhere…"

The two men started to moan and move around on the floor.

"I'd love to hear more about how you recognize me but we have to go" Don stood up and looked up and down the alley. He spotted a man hole below one of the thugs. He quickly pushed him enough out of the way that he could get the cover off.

"Come on" He jumped down into the hole in the ground

"Oh, hell no! You just revealed your true colors…literally…and now you want me to jump into a dark whole with you?! Forget it!" She stomped her foot on the ground and lifted her head up

"It's either this" he pointed to the thugs "Or that"

One of them started to lift himself off the ground. He held his hand to his head and moaned.

"Wait for me!" She ran towards Don who helped her lower into the ground. He helped her hold onto the ladder as he pulled the cover back on the hole.

"OMG its dark!" she screamed

"Shh! We don't want those guys knowing where we are"

"You know the whole point of me running into that alley was to save that dude and we never even did"

Don tsked ""We" shouldn't even be in the question. I'm the one who saved him. You just got in the way"

Austria gasped and punched him playfully. They laughed together and descended down the ladder.

"Ew it reeks down here!" Aus slapped her hand over her nose

"Well this is the sewer" he shot her a wink

"Thanks smart ass" her voice was high and squeaky from her pinching her nose

Don helped her get off the ladder and land onto the platform. Over the edge, water quietly flowed down the tunnels of the sewer. Once in a while a piece of trash would come into view then slowly drift away with the current.

"Oh this is just repulsive" she looked at Don who was staring into space, rubbing his chin

"What are you doing?" she asked

"I'm deciding if I should take you to my home or not"

"Anywhere but here is fine by me Don" He looked at her with a blank smile

It took her a minute to register his response. "No…No…No…Not happening!" She flung her hands in the air. "Please tell me you don't…"

"I do…but not here. I live in an abandoned research lab that's cut off from the sewers. I'll take you there but I think Sensei will like it" He wrapped Austria's hand around his neck to support her again.

"Who's Sensei? Is he like you?" she inquired

Don couldn't help but smile "yeah…I guess you could say that"

**: At the Lair:**

"That's it I'm going to look for him!" Leo started to walk towards the door when Raphael blocked his path.

"Get out of my way Raphael" Leo gazed into his brothers eyes

"That mind trick doesn't work on me Leo but keep trying" Raph crossed his arms and grinned

'Woah! Leo can control minds!?" Mikey asked excitedly. He jumped up and joined his brothers by the door.

"Control my mind and make me slap Raph!" Mikey shut his eyes and bit his lip

"It doesn't work like that Mikey. You need to…..Hey! You're trying to get me off topic!" Leo mentally slapped himself for letting his brothers play him like that.

"Mikey already told yah Leo. Don is out blowin off some steam so just let it go" Raph held his ground against his brother.

"You let me go through Raph! I'm your leader and you will do as I say! If I want to make sure my brother is ok I am entitled to do so! Understand?!" It was hard for everyone to see Leo like this. April even stopped visiting as often because his aggressive cycle made her a bit on edge. She had talked to his sensei about cutting him a break but he insisted it was for the better good.

"How about… I make you one of my famous pizza burritos!?" Mikey suggested

"Great now he'll definitely wanna leave" Raph mumbled to himself

"Excuse e muaw?" Mike put his hands on his hips "I'll have you know that everyone loves my burritos!"

Raph rolled his eyes and pushed Mikey out of the way. He landed on the floor with a violent "UMPH"

At the spur of the moment, the door to the lair opened and Donatello walked in out of breath. Leo yelled his name then approached his brother.

"Where have you been?! You had me worried sick!" Leo put a hand on his brother's shoulder

"I had a feeling you would be. Now to make matters worse…" Don looked at the door where Austria was standing, twitting her fingers together and looking at the ground. Leo looked up at her and tilted his head to the side.

"Austria?"

**THE SUSPENSE! Reviews appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for all the reviews! Enjoy chapter 6!**

: Chapter 6:

Austria sat on the battered, old couch in front of the Entertainment Center in the lair. She tightened her lips and looked around as a giant mutant rat stared at her from a far. It was all she could do to keep from screaming and getting the hell out of there. She was surprised to have seen Leo here and everyone was even more surprised that they knew each other.

"How is your leg?" Austria flinched when the giant mutant rat spoke

"Oh you know..…good….." she replied

"Woman of few words eh sensei?" Mikey elbowed him and smiled

"Very much indeed" He slowly walked away towards the kitchen where Leo was being questioned by Raphael

"How do you know her!?" Raph tried to keep his pitch down to a whisper

"I told you already. It was a few years ago, I saw her on the roof of her house and thought she needed help" Leo responded

"I don't want to hear any of that bullshit Leo! You obviously are very acquainted if she recognizes you as yourself and you knew her name! May I remind you YOU'RE A MUTANT TURTLE!" Raph slammed his fists on the kitchen table which made Leo stand up in defense.

"I don't need to explain myself to you Rap! I also don't need to sit her and let you lecture me!" he yelled back

"Leonardo. If you have exposed yourself to this girl…." Splinter started

Mikey snorted and tried to hold in a giggle. Splinter rolled his eyes wishing his son was close enough to smack with his walking stick.

"If you have revealed your true identity to another human other than our friend April O….."

"Hey don't forget Casey!" Raph shouted

"Other than April O'Neil….you have put us all in even more danger than we are already in" Splinter finally finished

"What danger?" Mikey yelled across the room "We already shredded shredder and put Hun behind bars"

"Hun may be gone but the purple dragons are still out there bonehead" Raph exclaimed

Leo sighed and looked over at Austria sitting on the couch. She turned away and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"If you won't talk maybe she will" Raph walked over to the living area. Leo jumped and flipped over to him and stood in front of her protectively.

"You're not going to antagonize her. She needs to rest" Leo crossed his arms and stared his brother down. Raph opened his mouth to say something then paused.

"Leo…" Aus began. "They don't have any reason to freak out" She smiled up at him. Raph rolled his eyes

"I know. I already told them I just helped you get back home and that was it. There just upset that you recognized me" he smiled back down at her

"Can you stop talking like I'm not here!? Geezes" He sat down next to Austria yet keeping his distance

"Well to be honest you recognized me first so therefore it's your fault" she laughed

"It's no one's fault really" He sat down on her other side "So what do you think?" He looked around the lair "Not the homiest place but we make do"

"It's uh…." She stared at the moss seeping through some places in the walls and the cob webs up high in the beams of the ceiling. "Soothing. Yup very soothing"

"So what brought you to the city?" He asked

She sighed and looked at the ground

"If you don't want to talk about it…" He put a hand on her back

"No it's not that…I was just sick of my home life and stuff. I guess Don told you about the shooting and everything" She tightened her lips

"I'm sorry. I wish we could let you stay here and recover but…"

"Wait what?" She looked up at him confused. "You're not going to let me stay? But I have nowhere to go. Leo please you can't be serious!"

The yelling had attracted the rest of the team to the living room

"Please understand child, we can't allow you to stay. You're in more danger every minute you're here then if you were somewhere else." splinter spoke in a sympathetic tone

Austria was completely in shock. She stood up and started to tear from her eyes. She looked around for Donatello and ran/limped over to him. Right now, he was the only one she trusted.

"Don please…" She let herself fall onto his plastron and be embraced by his arms. She closed her eyes and softly cried to herself. He looked up at his brothers and sensei, confused.

"I don't see why she can't stay" He said in her defense

"Yeah sensei, she aint hurtin anybody bein here" Raph also defended her in the argument

Splinter sighed and shook his head. "Donatello, take this girl to your lab and fix her leg properly. We will discuss this matter later "Don nodded and led her out of the kitchen.

"Sensei I….." Leo lifted his brow

"Do not speak. This girl cannot stay here I forbid it. Do I make myself clear?" All three of his sons agreed and bowed to their sensei. "Good" He bowed back and walked off to his room, covered by bamboo dividers.

"This bites!" Raph kicked an old soda can out of his way

"I thought you didn't like her Raph?" Leo smirked

"I neva said I didn't like her!" he started to blush uncontrollably

"Then why did you ask so many questions?" Leo said while slowly circling his brother

"Oh boy…Alpha turtle fight. I'm out!" Mikey slowly slipped away and retreated to his room upstairs.

"I was just curious how ya knew her that's all!" Raph growled

Leo grinned "Alright then" Raph hated the look that he was giving him right now. It was one of those "I'm better than you and you know it" looks and that was one of the main things that made him tick and Leo knew it. Whenever he wasn't being uptight and all leader like, he was doing everything he could to get on Raph's nerves. Whether it filled him with some kind of joy, he would never know. But he never picked on Mike and Donnie like he was now. It was almost like this behavior was hidden inside him and tucked away for "Raphael Use Only"

"Whatcha thinkin bout bro?" Raph grinned back. Time to fight fire with fire

"Oooh nothing" He kept that same look and it began to make Raph's muscles tense up." Don't let him get to yah" He thought to himself so he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. While Leo was becoming more like Raph, Raph was becoming more like Leo in the tense that he was able to control his temper much more easily then he could a few months ago.

"I know yah tryin to get unda my skin Leo" He uttered

He took it to offense. "Why would I try to do that?" That face….it was still lingering….

Raph Chuckled violently. "I know what yah tryin to do and it aint ganna work"

"Is this about Austria?" Leo asked still maintaining his smirk

What? This had nothing to do with that girl! Maybe Austria's appearance tonight is what stirred the uptight personality Leo's had lately to become that thorn in Raph's side that never seemed to go away. Or so he thought.

"Im goin ta bed" Not allowing himself to be defeated by his brothers aura, Raphael turned around and did the something that shocked even himself… he walked away.

"At 9:00 in the morning?" Now he was using that tone. Boy he was good. It must be a ninja thing, like taunting. Being able to hit "Extreme Asshole" on the bitch scale. Casey Jones had a tendency of doing that as well. Good, now he knows who to thank for Leo's attitude. He'll have to have a little "chat" with Case later. The very thought made him smile and probably was the only thing that kept him from turning around and socking his brother right in the jaw.

**: In Donnie's Lab:**

"Will this procedure be requiring needles?" Austria asked as she jumped up onto a metal counter in the small, well lit room. "Because I'll be honest…I HATE needles"

"If you don't move to much then no, it will not be requiring needles" Don looked into a draw and pulled out a few things and laid them on a small tray. He totally forgot about the anesthetic he would have to give her to numb the pain but his mind was trailed off somewhere else. He still couldn't believe Leo knew her and he was just itching to find out. Don pulled out a small needle from the drawer. He then opened a cupboard door and picked out a small bottle labeled "PainKiller". He stuck the needles into the cap then extracted the fluid.

"Hey uh…Don…you know what a needle is right? Because, that looks a lot like a needle" She shifted in her seat as her palms started to get sweaty.

"You'll need this to help with the pain. Don't worry it doesn't hurt much" As he approached her with the medicine she jumped off the counter and backed against the closed door. She knocked down a few things that fell and shattered onto the floor.

"Aus it's just a tiny needle"

"I don't think you know what you're doing…" her face was priceless. She was really afraid of that needle.

"Alright fine, I'll just start digging into you thigh with my scalpel and let the horrifying pain knock you out instead" He grinned

"Ok! Just…don't do that that's torture" She slowly walked back to the counter and hopped onto it.

"Can you just…roll up you're…" Don pointed to her blood stained shorts.

"Oh yeah….sure" She slowly grabbed the bottom of her pants and rolled them up. Good thing they were loose fitting. The blood on her bandage was a dark red and had an awful stench. What Don feared had come true. She probably had a terrible infection.

"Ok I just want you to lean back a little and lay your head on that towel behind you" He helped her slowly lower herself across the counter then pulled out an extendable section for her fit to rest on.

"I'm just ganna take the bandage off…" He said hesitantly

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? You seem a little…I don't know…nervous?" Aus lifted her head off the towel and looked at him

"Pfft, of course I know what I'm doing. I've just…never worked on females before and this is a first for me" he slowly used a small pair of scissors to cut the bandage off

"Well what's the difference?" her voice beginning to become irritated

"umm…." He blushed "I don't know…I guys girls are more sensitive that's all" He put his hand on her leg to tighten the skin around the wound so he could pull the bandage off more easily. She jumped and almost kicked him right in the face.

"See?" They laughed together

"No it wasn't that. Your hands are really frickin cold" She pretended to shiver

"Well I am cold blooded. I'll try to warm them up next time" He smiled

"What do you mean next time?"

Don dropped his head and sighed. Why was he so bad at talking to women? Talking with April was a snap…eventually….but this girl? She was so different.

"I didn't…mean it like that I sorry" He rolled away the bandage and got a good look at the..…disaster underneath? How in the…

"It's healed already?" Don leaned closer to get a better look

"Whatcha mean?" She tried to get a peek but was horizontally challenged at the moment.

"Well it's not "Healed" but it looks a lot better than it did this morning"

"Good! So, we don't need the needle?!" Her face stirred with excitement

"No you still need the needle" He was so shocked. The entry wound was still red and puffy but it wasn't as nearly as deep then before but he still needed to get that bullet out and maybe stich back together some torn pieces of skin. Skin…he looked at the area around the wound and he noticed that it was already beginning to scar. Usually those activities don't start until a week after recovery.

"You must heal very quickly Austria" He fully removed the gauze from her leg

"Very cool! Can I go now?" She asked

"Once I stich you up. I'll still give you the painkiller though. If it makes you feel any better, sometimes talking helps get your mind off it. The needle I mean"

She sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "We can talk about how I met Leo?" she suggested "I'm guessing your probably wondering about that anyway huh?"

"Well…If you want to" Austria couldn't see Don's smirking face since she was lying down.

**: 10 years ago in Brooklyn, NY: **_**Austria narrates in italicizes **_

"_I was a good kid. Always did my chores, listened to my parents the whole shebang really. But no matter how much I listened to them, and I already told you this in exchange for you not taking me to the hospital, my parents always treated me like I was some kind of…alien. I had an older brother and they treated him like a king which was why he weighed 800 pounds by the time he was all harassed m, beat me, my dad even threw me out into the street once. I was just different and I had no idea why"_

"Frank! Where the hell is that girl! I said Mocha not caramel! She knows my sensitive body can't handle caramel!" Austria's mom wobbled into the kitchen where her 6 year old daughter was on her hands and knees scrubbing the dirty kitchen floor. Her older, fat brother was eating a hotdog over her head and letting the ketchup and mustard fall onto the floor for her to clean up.

"Yeah you worthless shit" his mouth was full a food

"Alex, there is no cursing in this house sweetie" The mom patted her fat tomato on the head then looked down at Austria's big hazel eyes and at the time, wavy blonde hair.

"Frank!" The woman called her husband into the kitchen "Look at this…she missed a spot!"

A thin, half-dead looking man walked into the kitchen with a beer entangled in his fingers. "Yup…" It was obvious he was way over the legal intoxication limit which mad him that much more dangerous.

"Mommy, Daddy. Can I play outside today?" Austria stood up and dusted her hands on her apron

"Aww Frank she wants to go outside today? Isn't that sweet" They all began laughing together and the father even fell over on the floor, most likely a cause from his drinking.

"After you finish these floors, fold the laundry, wash the dishes, clean you and your brothers' room and pull the weeds from the garden. Then, you may go outside dearie" She spit onto the floor and made Austria flinch.

"Ok Mom I'll get it done I promise!" A beautiful, bright smile covered her face from ear to ear. She got back down on her knees and continued scrubbing the floor"

"_I did everything she asked me to and I never got to go outside that day. I don't know how I remember all this…I just do. At about 3:00am everyone in the house was asleep and I decided that I really wanted to go outside. I pushed the little nightstand I had next to my bed out of the way and behind it was this little secret window that led out onto the roof. The best part was, only I knew about it"_

Austria wiggled and squeezed her small body out of the tiny opening. When she got out onto the roof her mouth dropped open. The full moon shone brightly and there were millions upon millions of small white things in the sky that she assumed were the stars that kids in her school talked about all the time. She stared up into the endless array of space, bedazzled by its sheer size.

"It's so beautiful… "Her little hands reached up and cupped the moon into her palm. It sat there like a stone and looked down on her with a smile on its face. She began to sing a tune she had heard in school in her small innocent voice. _"Across the plains, across the sea, a home it dwells for you and me. The stars shine bright, the moon can sing and happiness is all we bring"_ A sudden movement behind her made the song come to an end. She turned around quickly with a gasp and held her hands over her chest.

"Hello?" No one was looking out her window so it couldn't be her family. When she squinted her eyes to get a closer look she saw a little dark figure sitting on the upper half of the roof.

"You have a pretty voice" It said. The shadow was probably her age by the sound of it.

"Thank you kind sir but if you don't mind me asking…how did you get all the way up here? And what are you doing on the roof of my house?" she asked

"Well…I was ganna ask you the same thing" It shifted positions slightly "I was also ganna ask you why you're out here all by yourself" Suddenly it moved slowly into the moonlight and allowed itself to be seen. The top of his head and eyes were covered by a blue bandana but that wasn't the most obvious thing about him. His skin was green, something little Austria had never seen before.

"You look funny" she giggled "Are you sick?"

The creature giggled back "No I'm not sick. I'm a turtle. I'm Leonardo" He stepped closer to her then sat down on the edge of the roof. He patted the spot next to him and signaled her to sit as well. "What's your name?" He asked

"I'm Austria" she held out her hand for him to shake. He looked at her, puzzled.

"Don't you know how to shake hands?"

"Shake hands? Well why would you do that?"

She giggled "It's what you do when you meet somebody. Mrs. Heifer my kindergarten teacher taught me how to do it"

Leo lifted his brow "Well…If you say so" He reached his hand out and swayed hers back and forth. They laughed and giggled. Aus didn't really know why people did that. Maybe because it was funny and made people laugh.

"Where's your family?" She asked him "I know it's late for me to be outside but…what about you?"

"Well I woke up in the night and I couldn't fall back asleep so I decided to go look at the stars but when I got outside I couldn't see any! My dad says that the gas from all the cars in the city sometimes hides the stars so we can't see them. So I decided to come down here and maybe I could see better and guess what? I can!" The small turtle raised his hands in the air as he gazed up into the night sky. He suddenly dropped them down and bit his lip

"That reminds me…" He stood up. "I better get going though, before my dad finds out I'm gone" He helped Austria up. "It was nice meeting you Austria. And listening to you sing" He smiled at her

"Will I ever see you again?" Her big brown eyes gazed into his blue ones

"I…I don't know" he frowned

"Well…if you ever want to look at stars again you know where they are now" She smiled back to try and cheer him up.

"Thanks! I'll try and come back sometime! Bye" He got a running start and leaped off the roof and landed safely on the ground. Austria's heart fluttered with life in the hopes that the strange kid she met would return sometime soon. And we all know how that story ends. He never did.


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm going to try one chapter in first person and see how we like it. ENJOY! **

: Chapter 7:

When I woke up my head was killing me and I felt all sweaty and disgusting. Yuck. I slowly lifted my body up and held my head in my hands. After it stopped spinning in a million circles, I looked around at my surroundings. Great, so this isn't a dream. I'm still in this lair underneath the streets of NYC and I'm being 100% honest with you, it smells worse and worse with each passing minute.

"Ughh…" I moaned to try and get someone's attention but I was all by myself in this…bedroom? "UGHH" I began to yell but no one came. Great now I have to get up. I slowly dropped my feet off the edge of the bed I was seated on and stood up. I had to slap my hand over my mouth to keep myself from upchucking the contests of my stomach.

"HELLOOOO" I advanced towards the first door I saw and slowly pushed it open.

"SHES AWAKE!" I heard someone yell which by the sounds of it…Michelangelo. I was on that weird upper floor they had, Installed with a balcony and everything!

"Good, thanks for letting everyone in China know too Mikey" Another voice said which I knew very well was Raphael's.

"Hello?" I said again

"You can come down Austria" Yup that was Leo. They lonely turtle that found me on my roof like 10 years ago. How in the world did he remember me anyway? I must be special but I felt bad because I'll be honest with you again, I had no idea who he was when he called my name. But once he started talking I recognized him. And the blue bandana didn't hurt either. Then he mentioned that night on the roof. He talked about it like it was some kind of wedding. He was only there what?...5 minutes? That's longer than I could keep a boyfriend and you don't see me bragging about it.

"Uh right…coming! Just as soon as I figure out how to get down…" I looked around to try and find a pole or something to slide down. I figured since they were turtles that they didn't know what a staircase was.

"I believe "steps" are what you humans call it" I looked to my left and just the person I needed to see was standing there. Donatello. Out of all his brothers he was definitely the turtle I was warming up to the quickest and not only because he practically saved my life either. I feel like he can protect me from his rowdy siblings because Raph scares me; Mikey is just…well, let's leave it at that, Leo's a compulsive liar for reasons you already know and Don...well I'm not sure about him just yet.

Don pointed to a small staircase that led down to the lower level.

"I totally saw that there" I said

"Right" He smiled at me with those big eyes and that adorable…Oh no…did I almost just say he was adorable? I think I'm still trying to process this whole, reptilian thing since I am finding him rather cute right now. I walked past him and strolled down the stairs. He forgot to mention there was an invisible step right at the bottom that I tripped and fell off of. Thankfully, with ninja like reflexes, Leo was there to catch me.

"Easy bambi" He embraced my falling body against his own weight

"Oh your so frickin hilarious" He totally wasn't the turtle I remembered him as. I just couldn't believe this was grown up Leonardo. I thought I would never see him again so after the first year of him never returning, like he said he would, I just let him slowly erase out of my mind. Apparently my mind didn't want to erase him, even though I wish it had.

I straightened my posture and dusted off my jean shorts. My jean shorts…pretty sure I wasn't wearing jean shorts when I got here. Or a navy blue sweatshirt…or socks and shoes…no wait I was wearing those.

"Who dressed me?!" I threw my hands on my hips and put on my best death stare.

"That was totally me" Mikey looked over and shot a wink in my direction

"Oh really?" I started to walk towards him when he jumped up out of his chair at the table and cowered behind Raphael. He won this round, at least until I get to know Raph a little better. You never know, maybe he enjoys Ice cream and long walks in the park. Yeah I seriously doubt it. He probably sharpens knives for fun.

"We had a friend of ours come over and…clean you up a bit" Leo remarked

"Clean me up a bit!? You let some dude come in here and undress me!? I bet you let him shower me too!?" I had to stand on my tip-toes to reach Leo's height but it was enough so I could get into his face and yell at him.

"Yes, we let HER come in and shower you and yes, SHE dressed you into a new pair of clothes" Leo crossed his arms and glared at me. I dropped back down to size and tucked my hair behind my ear. Something I do when I get nervous I guess. My mom always yelled at me whenever I did it.

"Oh…right…so since she saw me naked were automatically friends" The reaction I got from all four of them was priceless. I could tell they were seriously not use to women.

"Can I meet her?" I don't know why I was so curious about this chick.

"Umm…yes you will get to meet her. For the next 6 months" Leo said

At first I didn't understand what he was trying to say. Why would I want to get to know someone for 6 months? Then it hit me, like a fish out of water, if that made any sense.

"Is she going to stay here with us? Or does she already live here?" I was just teasing. I knew they were probably going to send me away with her but I had a back-up argument for that.

"No, April has agreed to let you stay with her until you can get back on your feet which she said would be maybe 6 months or so" Leo said with such ease.

"Leo, I know you a little better than your bothers so I'm going to be honest with you" Geeze I say that a lot. "I'm 16…I think…yeah I'm 16. I have nowhere to go! I know I don't know you guys that well but I feel like I have known you for years!"

"You have known me for years…" He said with a blank stare

"I mean like…"getting to know you" for years. I don't know if Donnie told you but my life back at my home…sucks. My parents abuse me!" I hate having to bring up that my parents abuse me to try and get what I want but it works, like a charm. One time there was this hotdog vendor dude walking home from the city and I really wanted a hot dog but I didn't have any money so I told him that my dad used all the cash in my piggy bank to buy illegal drugs, which wasn't true. I didn't have a piggy bank. After he patted my head and told me "everything was ganna be ok" he gave me a free hot dog with ketchup, and everything! I was like…13 at the time which was when I really started to process the reality of my home life.

"Yes, Donnie told us all about it while you were recovering" Leo said as Don walked up next to him and smiled

"How long was I out?"

"About 5 day's maybe 6" Donnie replied

"That's almost a week!" I screamed. I heard someone over at the table clap. These turtles have some serious smartass problems.

"We will introduce you to April tomorrow morning. I think you two will get along just fine" Leo nodded his head and walked back to the kitchen table with Don trailing behind him.

You know that thing snotty girls do when they drop open their mouths and do that "pfft" thing right before there about to say "Excuse me?!" yeah well I did one of those.

A sweet aroma filled my nose that I guessed was coming from the kitchen. I never noticed until now that I've been abusing my hunger pains all morning. I can literally feel my ribs rubbing against my skin and my stomach felt like it had a hole in it.

"So what you guys got to munch on?" I pulled out a chair next to Mikey and sat down. He had some kind of magazine open with tons of color and weird looking pictures. He looked at me and smiled brightly.

"The only thing every New Yorker eats around here!" He said

"What's that?" I looked at him puzzled. Raph stopped sipping from his coffee mug to stare at me.

"Pizza Duh" he said, then resumed his sipping.

"What?" I asked

Mikey screamed like a girl then Raphael slammed his cup onto the table. Leo was just leaning against the counter smiling at me when Don placed a triangular thing onto a plate and handed it to me.

"You've seriously never had pizza before?" He said placing one hand on the top of my chair and leaning into it.

"This looks like someone ate Raph then puked him back out" yeah, that was my very first insult to Raphael and I had a feeling I was going to regret it as he just held a grin on his face and stared at me. What!? The food had a hint of red to it and he's got a red thing on his face. I'm just making connections here people.

Mikey cracked up at my joke and slapped Raph on the arm. "Buuuuurn!" Mikey laughed. I was happy to see I pleased at least SOMEONE.

"You know, you aint the first person to ever walk in here and eventually… not walk out alive" he said in a sinister tone. What really stood out about him was his Brooklyn accent. Those kinds of accents are what make guys like him that much more horrifying. Now I really regretted what I said.

"Oh leave her alone Raph" Don said from behind me. Leo scrunched his eyes and looked at him. Raph's mouth also kind of dropped open. I looked at them, then at Donnie

"What? What's everyone looking at?"

"Wow Don…" Leo gave one of those unsure smiles

"Nothin Aus" Raph kept his glare on Donatello. When I looked back at him he looked a little nervous and insecure. Yes, someone can look insecure.

"I was jokin around with her Don" Raph's tone had become more violent.

"Are you ganna eat your pizza or what!?" Mikey looked over at me like he was ready to pounce on top of my plate. I would have to thank him later for ended the awkwardness.

"Nah, I think I'm just going to let it sit here and mock you" Wow, ok my first insult to Michelangelo. I'm just on a role today. He whined then resumed reading his magazine. I picked up the weird, floppy food off my plate and looked at it. "Ew…what's in it?"

"Love" I don't need to tell you who said that because if you don't know by now, re-read everything.

I closed my eyes and took a bite out of the tip of the triangle. I started to chew and I tasted tomato sauce and sweet mozzarella cheese which was my absolute favorite. I guess the guys noticed I was enjoying myself to much because they began to laugh and shake their heads.

"Pizza has that kind of effect on people Aussie…now give me the rest!" Mikey leaned over and tried to take it from me but Don held him back.

"Hell no! Get your own!" I downed that piece as fast as I could. I hope he wasn't going to try and rip it out of my throat too.

As I looked around the room and got a good look at each of the turtle's faces, I started to realize something. They will probably be the first friends I've had in a long time. That is, if they allow us to stay in contact once they send me to this April chick's house. I felt almost lucky to have a group of Teenage Mutant Turtles become my first real friends. I had a feeling though, that once they sent me away the same thing would happen that happened on the roof of my house 10 years ago. I would never see them again and right now that was bad because as Mikey tipped up Raphael's coffee cup as he tried to drink from it, I realized…I was beginning to grow attached to them.

**I'm not sure if I like this new style of writing. Leave a review and please let me know what or think or I will just keep doing it in first person cause I like being able to get into Austria's head and show you her thoughts and feelings. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok so I decided that I liked first person POV! But I like third person too but I will only narrate with Austria because she's my OC. So I will change back and forth as needed. Plus I think it makes it more interesting when you can read in someone else's perspective once and awhile! Hehe. Thanks for your opinions on the matter!**

: Chapter 8:

The rest of the day was spent with Leo making me sit in the dojo and watch him and his brother's train. Apparently there some kind of samurai warriors or something I don't know. As they trained he filled me in on everything including how they came to be. I'll save you the details and give you my lazy ass version.

Truck carrying bad ooze, crash, turtles in glass bowl, crash, weird mysterious mutation ooze, crash into sewers, turtles fall into sewer, ooze falls on turtles, rat finds turtles, rat gets oozed on, turtles mutate, rat mutates, rat is some kind of kung-foo freak, rat teachers turtles cool moves, turtles defeat cheese shredder. The end, I'm the next Stephenie Myer.

Turns out…these guys are really good at what they do. I mean like REALLY good. They each have their own special weapon that they train with but Leo told me they all were taught how to use each weapon in case of an emergency. I was surprised Raphael didn't have Leo's swords because they were sharp and violent. I forgot the technical name for them…Katrina…kafana…something like that. I wasn't really paying attention because I was fixated on Donatello. I never knew a stick could impress me so much…shut up. But in all seriousness he was wicked with that thing…shut up. I've seen him use it before when he was fighting those thugs in the alley but not like he was using it now. He blocked attack after attack and he spun it so fast I thought he was ganna levitate right into the air.

Mikey's weapon was a little on the odd side. He let me hold his "Nun-Chuks"…shut up, before practice started and even though they look like a child's toy…those things were really hard and really heavy. I was really tempted to swing them on the chain they were attached to but I was afraid I would clock myself right in the head. I really didn't want to pass out for the third time this week.

Raphael had the most frightening weapon. I felt bad for any enemy he had once they got skewered by his salad forks. They had a technically name too…don't ask me what it was I can't remember. He had two of these things and they each had three sharp to the edge points and the one in the middle was longer than the others. I hope Raph doesn't take a liking for Austria shish kabob.

I sat there most of the day with my knees tucked to my chest and just watched them. It actually was very entertaining, especially when Donatello beat the crap out of his brothers which actually wasn't that often. I can't believe I'm saying this but, Raph was probably the best fighter there. Even Leo didn't stand a chance against him. If you look up "Brutal" in the dictionary there's a picture of Raphael next to it. I know…worst dictionary in the world.

Michelangelo went flying across the room and landed smack against the wall where I was sitting. Leo had kicked him right in the stomach/plastron area.

"Holy crap! Are you ok?!" I jumped up and ran to his side.

"Oh yeah…just peachy. Every turtle loves getting a round off right to the…sensitive area" He moaned

Oh…I thought Leo hit his stomach…guess not…now this is awkward.

"Umm…what can I do?!" I stood there helplessly. Well what was I supposed to do?! Kiss it and make it feel better! HELL NO

"Aus he's a man he can handle it" Raph called out

"He's hardly a man" Don chuckled

"Aus….I see a bright light" Mikey reached up into the air with one hand and pretending to grab something. "This is the end…goodbye. You were a good friend"

"Oh Mikey…" I slapped his face lightly and helped him up off the ground. "Now get back in there" I gave him a little shove and not five seconds later did Raph smack him again right in the same spot. Now he was down for good.

"Raph what the hell!" Once he finished knocking Donnie flat on his shell I walked up to him with my arms open. And no I didn't want a hug.

"Get out of the battle zone Aus" He held his Sais…hey I remembered! He held his Sais firmly in his hands. If I didn't know any better I would think he was threatening me.

"Why did you hit Mikey!? Look he's hurt now!" I pointed over to the orange clad turtle curled up against the wall. Leo walked up behind Raph and sheathed his swords.

"Aus, in the real world our enemies wouldn't even be half as generous to him as Raph just was" he said. They are brothers so I can understand it why Leo would defend him.

"But…" I tried to speak out against Leo but I just couldn't find the words to. I found it harder and harder to argue with him as the day dragged on. Whenever he spoke to me and I didn't agree I just couldn't seem to get the argument in me, out. There was something about him that made me coward inside myself. I haven't decided yet if that's good or bad but let's just go with bad for now.

"You guys are mean!" That's all I had. I stormed off out of the dojo but as it turns out, what I thought was the "out" was actually an entrance to their sensei's meditation room thingy.

"Oh crap…" He was sitting on a bamboo mat with his legs crossed awkwardly. In front of him was a single lit candle and he looked like he was praying to it or something. He opened his eyes and stared at me.

"Yes?" he said in an irritated tone.

"Um…I thought this was the exit to the dojo…" I felt so bad…what if he was praying spirits to rest?! Oh no what have I done! I'm ganna be haunted forever!

"You mean the exit "out of" the dojo" He corrected my terrible grammar which I appreciated very much. I wonder if he came in travel size.

"Right sorry…I'm just ganna...let you resume praying to the spirits…" I slowly tried to step out of the room but he held up a hand as for me to stop, so I did.

"I am not praying to the spirits" He shut his eyes again and took a deep breath. "I am meditating. Regenerating my body with calm and ease"

The way he said that sent chills up my spine. "OH…so is that required of every person or…" I questioned

"It is required for the warrior so he may have a sound mind. It calms our bodies so we may put everything we have into our fighting, both physical and spiritual" He said all mysterious like. I didn't really understand what he meant but I had a feeling I would eventually. I nodded to him and slowly backed out of the room. When I turned around I had a mutant turtle welcoming committee. They all were laughing except for Leo who had a huge grin on his face.

"So what I don't know my way around this place! Big deal!" I pouted

"I remember when I walked in on sensei for the first time" Don stated "He made me have a two hour long meditation session. I'm surprised he let you slip out"

"Well you know…It's a girl thing" I flipped my hair for effect

"That's funny…cuz Mikey walked in there and didn't come out once for 4 hours straight…how do you explain that?" Raph looked at his little brother and laughed

"Oh HA HA pick on the little guy" he said.

Later that evening, we all sat down and had a wonder five-star pizza buffet in the kitchen after their training. By then it was at least 7:00pm and I was exhausted. You would think the guys who were jumping and smacking each other around all day would be tired too right? Wrong. Leo even got up after dinner and went back to the dojo for more! He wanted Dojo seconds! Mikey went to the TV and started playing a really loud video game with Raphael. Donnie…disappeared. Well I wasn't going to bed yet so I decided I would try and search for him since I was bored anyway…ok and maybe I actually kinda WANTED to find him.

I looked in the dojo, making sure Leo didn't see me and didn't find him. I walked the whole surface area of the lair looking for hallways or a secret door but nothing. So I checked upstairs in each of the rooms including mine but still nothing. I walked back onto the breezeway and looked out over the place. I can't believe I failed to notice the giant computer/machine/whatever it was, in the back of the main section to the lair. Long behold there was Donatello at the base of it typing away at a huge keyboard with what looked like buttons and smaller computer screens and separate tables etc. I started to question my theory on him being a doctor.

I ran down the stairs and stopped at the end of the living room. I never noticed that there was a huge pool in here and Donnie's computer thing was on an Island in the center of it. He had small metal bridge that led from the "mainland" to his island.

"Donnie what the hell is this?" I was smiling with curiosity

He turned around from whatever he was doing and smiled back.

"This is my working station. I thought you would have noticed it by now" He chuckled

"Um yeah I kind of JUST noticed it while I was looking for you" I said

"You were looking for me?" His cheeks flushed with color. Aw he's so cute when he's embarrassed. Actually, he was so damn cute that I felt my cheeks start to get warm signaling that I was probably blushing too.

"Umm…yeah I guess I was" I tried to laugh it off but failed miserably. "Can I…cross this thing? Or is it ganna…" I tapped the bridge with my foot to make sure it was stable.

"Oh…No you can cross it. It's sturdy" He nodded

"Well what I meant to say was, do you mind me entering your personal space you got here?" That just didn't sound right at all.

"This…this isn't personal space…it's just my uh…work…area" he waved for me to come on over so I did. I ran across that bridge like my feet were on fire. Between you and me, I can't swim and that was the worst millisecond of my life.

"So…nice place you got here" I looked around at all the gadgets he had everywhere. There were blueprints pinned against chalkboards, chemistry equipment, maps of what appeared to be the city, tools, machines, you name it.

"So what kind of doctor are you?" I couldn't help it. I was too curious. He looked at me and laughed like I was some kind of crazy person.

"I'm not a doctor" He said, still laughing.

"You're not?! But you fixed my leg!" I leaned against a table and stared at him

"Well I can perform "doctor like" operations but that's not what I do" He smiled

"Well…" I pointed to everything around us. "I can see that"

He laughed again but it was softer this time. "I'm an engineer I guess you could say"

I was really confused. A turtle engineer? How in the world did he get the resources to teach himself all this?

"So you just…build stuff?" I asked dumbfounded. I probably looked like a kindergartener compared to him.

"Well…" he scratched behind his head

"Yeah he does" Raphael jumped over the bridge and landed on the platform. He swung his arm over his brother's shoulder and looked at me.

"He's the smartest geek in the world Aus, you see this here doohickey?" Raph pointed to the huge computer that reached to the top of the ceiling.

"He built it"

"Are you serious!?" I yelled

"Yeah and see that thing-a-mabob" he pointed to something. Over in the corner of the "island" was a weird looking circular platform that had tons of wires attached to it and another circular platform overhead.

"Yeah?" I said wondering what the hell it was

"It's a cyber-portal. Built by this amazing dude right here" Raph rubbed the top of his brothers head, messing up his mask.

"Oh knock it off" Don looked flattered as he moved his bandana back into place.

I could not even begin to describe the levels of awe my brain was reaching. I had no idea a cyber-portal could even be built let alone by a Ninja Turtle. I stuttered as I tried to speak.

"Wh-at…H-ow…" I was shaking my head in denial

"Yeah he's one of a kind" Raph said. Don looked so happy right then. His smile was huge and proud and if he really did build all that stuff, he deserved to be. I couldn't even build a paper airplane in my aero physics class and he can do all this? Mind blown. His IQ is probably like, infinity.

The more I learned about Donatello the more I got a liking for him. He was definitely different alright, compared to his brothers I mean. He must have all the girls hanging on his arms, even that April chick.

Raph winked at me then leaped back over the little bridge. Don was standing stiff looking at the floor.

"You alright?" I laughed

"Yeah…" He looked up at me and did one of those adorable half smiles.

"Well he has a reason to! What else did you do besides all that?" I was so interested in all this. It was absolutely breathtaking.

"I really hate to brag…" he hesitated. I had a feeling he would be like that considering how shy he was.

"I don't care. It's not bragging. I really wanna know" I sat down on a stool next to a table and crossed my legs.

"Well…I refurnished this place…" he looked around the lair

"Really!?" I had a bad habit of cutting people off. Probably not attractive either.

"It's nothing really. I just installed all the wiring so we could have plumbing and electricity"

"For free?" I tilted my head

"Free for us but not for the building across the park. I wired it so all our power usage comes from their reservations. So I guess it means their bill spiked a couple hundred dollars or so. But all our light is compact fluorescent so it's not that bad" He smiled

"Compact huh?" I knew what he was talking about but I wanted him to tell me. I'm sneaky like that

"Energy efficient" He grabbed a light bulb from his desk and showed it to me. It was like a spiral shape. Oh, so he was smart and "go green" Get it? Go green…cuz hes…never mind

"Wow…that's really cool" I said

He probably thought I had no interest in any of this technical stuff. I did have a liking for it though. I thought it was really cool how he could do the impossible and create all these machines being what he is and everything. Take away the shell and green skin, he was practically human. I was interested in this and I knew I was…but was it in the tech stuff…or him?

**Can you feel the love tonight? Hope you enjoyed Chapta 8! I can't wait to see what happens next! I think I'm going to time myself for the next chapter I write and see how long it takes me. Sounds fun!**


	9. Chapter 9

: Chapter 9:

When my eyes opened for the first time that morning my entire body was stiff. Sleeping on a couch really does a number on you. Turns out the bedroom I woke up in yesterday was Raphael's and he didn't want me sleeping in there again. Donnie offered to let me sleep in his room and he would sleep on the couch but honestly I felt better staying downstairs so I jumped on it and fell asleep before he could argue. I shifted sides on the couch so I was facing towards the TV. I really didn't wanna get up mainly because I was supposed to meet April today.

I stared into the distance with my unblinking eyes. Suddenly I saw something rise, then fall off the side of the couch. It rose then fell, rose then fell. When I leaned over to get a look at what it was turns out it was a shell. A turtle shell. I couldn't exactly tell which of the guys it was but I had a feeling I already knew. I looked up by his head and could just make out the purple bandana strings that were lying on the ground next to him.

"Don…Don" I lightly tapped his shell to try and wake him up

"Hmm?" He replied but he sounded perfectly awake

"What are you doing?" Good thing he couldn't see my face because I was smiling harder than a hyena.

"You were screaming last night so I came down and slept next to you. Then you stopped" He rolled over onto his side so he could see me.

"I was screaming?" I don't suffer from night tremors so I have no idea what he's talking about.

"Mmhm" He seemed half asleep…

"Did you get any rest?" I asked

"Yeah I got some" Wow he was a terrible liar and the dark circles around his eyes helped prove my theory. I looked at him dead in the eyes and grinned

"Is that REALLY why you came down?" I was smiling so hard I couldn't help myself

"Yes that is really why I came down. Ask anyone"

"Ok I call up the president the first chance I get"

Suddenly, Mikey flipped over the couch and landed right on top of the unsuspecting Donatello. He rolled him onto his back and looked him dead in the eyes

"Mikey! What are you doing?!" Don tried to throw him off without any luck.

"Guess what day it is?" He grinned and smacked his face against his brothers. "Just Guess"

Donatello sighed "Here we go again"

"Austria!" He turned to me so quickly I almost jumped out of my skin. "Guess what day it is!?"

"What day is it?" I asked, totally not interested

"GUESS" He jumped up off Donnie and pinned me against the couch. I would severely beat him for this.

"I don't know! Wednesday I think?!" Suddenly his smile grew 8 times wider

"Its…..HUMP DAY!" He screamed

I grabbed the first pillow I saw and smacked him right in the side of the face with it.

"Excuse me!? Hump day?! What kind of mentally retarded freak are you?! Goin around humping people!?"

Don and Mikey fell over laughing

"What's so funny!?" I jumped up off the couch and popped a hip

"He didn't literally mean "HUMP "day" Don grinned

"Every Wednesday is Hump day! Haven't you seen the commercial? Wednesday is the peak of the week when it's halfway over therefore….its HUMP DAY!" Mikey ran around the lair screaming hump day in weird voices and I knew it was just a matter of time before Raphael jumped down from the balcony and beat the living snot out of his obnoxious brother.

Not moments later, like I predicted, Raph grabbed him by the head and held him in a head lock. He definitely wasn't a morning person.

"If you say Hump Day one more time I'm ganna turn yah shell inside out and use it as your body bag! Do I make myself clear!?" You could actually see the steam evaporating off the top of his head.

"Well it wouldn't really be a BAG if you're using my shell…" Mikey chuckled

Raph gipped tighter on Mikeys neck and made him squeal.

"Try me wise guy" He grinned down at his little brother.

"You guys are ridiculous haha, I wish I had my camera to take some photos of you two fighting and show you how retarded you look" I said

"Oh so you're a photographer?" Don walked up to me smiling

"Well I'm not…a licensed photographer but I enjoy talking photos!" I tried to make what I do sound exciting but it was nothing compared to his genius.

"You do still life?" he asked

"What's still life?" I said and he frowned slightly

"You're a photographer and you don't know what still life is?" He gave me a reassuring smile which told me he was only teasing. But I did feel a bit dumb. I've taken over 2000 photos ever since I got my camera from my grandma but I didn't know squat about the whole history of photography junk.

"I told you Donnie I'm not licensed. No one every taught me anything about it. I just go by feel and whatever feels like the right way"

"So you're an expressionist?" He grinned at me. He knew I had no idea what all these things meant

"You are one of a kind Donatello" I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"Aww shucks" He blushed and I noticed that he had a hard time keeping eye contact with me.

"HEY! Are you two shumcks ganna answer the door or what!?" Raph was still torturing Michelangelo but now they were rolling on the floor trying to pin each other to the ground.

"Is someone there?" Don asked

Mike slapped his hand against Raph's face to try and push him off

"Yeah…just answer it I think its April…" He said

Now a normal girl would say "OMG I'm not ready OMG I need to get dressed OMG I need my makeup on OMG" Well not this girl. How could I not be ready when I was forced to sleep in my Jean shorts and sweatshirt and have no makeup to put on? I was all ready to meet her but between you and me; I wasn't leaving this place without putting up a fight first. For a bonus, Leo wasn't even here so this might be easier than I thought.

"I'll get it" Don ran over to the entrance and looked out the peephole in the door. "Yeah it's April" He opened the door slowly and let her in, along with some dude. She greeted Donatello with a hug and he instantly hugged her back. Ouch. She had short red hair that was pulled back into a sloppy bun and she actually wasn't as young as I thought. She was in her thirties at least and the guy she was with, who had long black hair and a thin cropped face, looked to be in his thirties as well.

Mikey pushed Raphael off him and jumped up to greet our guests.

"APRIL!" He ran to her and scooped her in his arms.

"Hey Michelangelo! It's so good to see you guys!" He spun her around then put her back down on the floor.

"CASE!" Raphael and the other guy ran towards each other and threw themselves onto the ground. They wrestled for a few seconds then got back up laughing and smacking each other on the arms. I could see that April girl looking at me and smiling. I guess she could tell I was staring at them awkwardly.

"You must be Austria" she walked up to me and held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you" I shook her hand, trying my hardest to be polite.

"This is my husband Casey Jones" she pointed over to the man conversing with Raphael

"Oh he's your husband!?" she crinkled her brow and smiled at me, so much for a good first impression.

"Yes we just got back from our honeymoon in Hawaii"

"Oh yeah how was your honeymoon April?" Don walked up to her and asked

"Oh Donnie it was fabulous! You should have seen it! The waves were amazing, the food was amazing, and the hotel was amazing! It was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be! I wish you guys could have come along!"

"Yeah no one wants to see that April" Raph winked which was followed by a friendly shove via Casey Jones

"Oh you guys" she blushed. Is this chick for real right now?

"Oh yeah how was that Case?" Raph asked with a grin. These guys must be better buddies than I thought.

"You wish sewer breath! Get your own girl and find out for yourself" He said slapping Raph in the back of the head. Several images flashed into my mind and trust me, they were disgusting. Is that even…possible?

"OK so where's Leo?!" I yelled out unexpectedly

"Yeah where is Leo Raph?" April asked

"Eh I'm not sure. In his room maybe? I'll go check for yah" He answered, taking off upstairs.

"So Austria…" April turned to me and looked into my eyes with her large green ones. "Where are you from?"

"Take a wild guess" I popped a hip and grinned. This caught Donnie's attention.

"Wait, are you actually from Austria?" He leaned in close to me and smiled with delight

"Yeah as a matter of fact" I rubbed the back of my head

"Wait really?" Mikey walked over and leaned on my shoulder

"Yes really" I was really embarrassed at this point.

"So like…is that a state or something?" Don smacked Mikey on the head "OW! Hey I don't know my Geography that well!"

"It's in Central Europe right Below Germany. You know before World War I Austria…"

"Save it brainiac" Mikey demanded

"Yeah my parents adopted me from Austria when I was 2 years old. They didn't wanna waste time trying to name me so they just called me Austria. Later in life once I got older, they needed snappy comebacks to hurt my feelings with, so they claimed they only adopted me to get money from the organization that was helping foreign children find homes in America"

April, Don and Mikey looked on the verge of tears.

"That's so sad!" April held her hands over her mouth.

"Yeah, good thing that's not true. I'm from Brooklyn." I smiled with pleasure at my awesome manipulative skills. April dropped her hands and rolled her eyes.

"That's not funny" She said

"She really does come from a terrible home life though" Mikey nodded with himself in agreement. "So it wasn't ALL a lie"

"Oh well that just makes it so much better than doesn't it" She said

"I think me and this kid are ganna get along just fine" Casey nodded at me from across the room. He looked really cool now that I thought of it. He seemed like the kind of guy who would pull the fire alarm in school.

"Sorry I'm late" Leo and Raph jumped down from the balcony and landed in the living room. April ran up and hugged him.

"How was your honeymoon?" Leo asked

"Please don't ask her that" I said. He shot me a look then looked at April for an answer

"Oh it was just lovely thanks for asking" She hugged him again. When I looked at Don, I swear on my life he was about ready to pounce on Leo and attack him. What was up with him? He looked more protective of April then her own husband was!

"I guess you two have met?" Leo gestured to me

"Oh yes, she told us the story of her "adoption""

Leo looked at me with a confused expression. "You're adopted?"

"No she's not she was just teasing" April laughed

"Oh yeah you should have seen it. April was about ready to cry" I grinned with pleasure

Suddenly, Mikey ran up to me and hugged my waist. "DON'T GO!" He leaned his head into my stomach, almost knocking me off balance. "It's not every day we get a pretty girl like you around here!"

April threw her hands on her hips and gasped. "Well thanks Michelangelo!"

"Besides you!" He buried his face into my sweatshirt like a big baby.

"We can still visit her at Aprils house Mikey" Leo said

"Oh yes of course! You guys feel free to drop by anytime. You're always welcome" She excalimed

"Except Raph" Casey said which made Raph elbow him right in the gut.

After a about a half an hour of April talking about their "amazing honeymoon" and Leo talking about how good I'm going to behave while staying with them, they were ready to take me home. April said she had already enrolled me in school and the Headmaster was very understanding of why I was coming into the year so late, and why I would be only staying for 6 months. She also took the pleasure of signing me up for community service in Central Park. This chick really didn't want me around it seemed like. There was no way in hell I was doing no damn community service.

"We will take good care of her I promise" Casey said

Master Splinter had finally appeared to bid me farewell. We bowed to each other and he offered me his blessing. I thought it would be a little weird if I hugged the guys goodbye but I figured "What the Hell." I especially wanted to hug Donnie who I hoped would visit me more than I knew the others would. Raph wasn't very welcoming to the idea of hugging me but after a death stare from master splinter, he gave in and we quickly embraced. Mikey practically tackled me as he wrapped his arms around my whole body and squeezed like a snake trying to kill its dinner. My hug with Leo was the most normal feeling one. It was simple and sweet and he promised this time that I would see them again. Last but not least, poor Donnie. He had his head lowered and he smiled halfway as I approached him.

"I will see you soon" I promised him. He took my hands in his and pulled me into an embrace.

"Sooner than you think" he whispered. My heart was pounding at the speed of light as I felt the warmth from his body drape over mine. I've only known him few days but I already felt like our souls had somehow connected at that moment. I know, sounds cheesy but it felt so real and words couldn't really explain what I just experienced.

He slowly let me go, but still held onto my shoulders and looked me directly in the eyes. I guess I was crying because he used one of his fingers to wipe away a tear from my cheek

"Caaaan you feeeel the loooove tonight" Mikey started to sing and I instantly pulled away and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"This is just a sad moment that's all" I sniffled

"Well you didn't cry when ya hugged me" Raph looked at Donnie who had just finished wiping away a tear from his own cheek. "And I certainly didn't cry when I hugged you" Raph winked

"That's because you have no soul Raph" I grinned

"I'm ganna miss you so much!" Mikey hugged me again, trapping my arms at my sides.

"You guys are acting like you'll never see her again" Leo rolled his eyes.

"Let's hope so" Raph said under his breath

"I heard that smartass" I pointed at him

"Rule number one" April put my hand down and looked at me. "No swearing in my house"

"Umm…" Did she really just tell ME what to do? "Sure thing?" I said

She nodded and wrapped her arm around me

"We will see you guys later!"

They guys waved goodbye and as April, Casey and I walked out of the lair. I turned around to get a last glimpse of them. There was no way I was going at least one day without coming back here and seeing them. Especially a certain purple clad turtle. As we walked through the sewers and up a ladder leading to the surface, I realized I had never argued about leaving the lair like I had planned to. I guess I was so caught up in leaving Donatello that I had totally forgotten about it. Great, now Leo won that round.

"Where are we going?" I asked as Casey Jones helped me up out of the manhole. They sun was low in the sky and the morning haze was starting to settle over the City. Car horns were honking and the smell of gas and asphalt overwhelmed my nostrils.

"We are going to my apartment. I live above an antique shop that I own" April smiled at me

"Yeah it burned down a few years ago but we got it restored. Cool huh?" he said

"Oh yeah…really cool" I said

Casey led the way across the busy streets. April and I fell behind then she took ahold of my arm in the crook of hers.

"Don looked pretty upset to see you go" She looked at me with concerning eyes

"Yeah…" The image of his torn face rushed through my mind. Oh God I hope I see him soon.

"He was heartbroken when Casey and I got married. He's the most caring person I've ever met. He's so selfless and he even risked his life to save mine, multiple times may I add"

What was she trying to do? Rub in my face that Don had a liking for her? Well back off sista, you made your choice, now it's my turn to show him what it's like to care about someone and have them care back. I don't give a damn if he's a large, green, mutant reptile either. He could be a mutant muskrat and I still either way, would fall in love with that big-hearted personality that made up every square inch of his body. He had that characteristic that just screamed "Donatello" every time he opened his mouth to speak. I knew I would fall in love someday, but I never knew it would happen like this. Life Sucks.


	10. Chapter 10

**Enjoy Chapter 10 (back to third person)! Review always appreciated and I listen to your ideas! BTW I hit 500 views! Thanks guys! Also, if you haven't seen all of the 2003 series episodes then you may not get some of the references I bring up. I'm not making them up either, they actually occurred in the series. **

**Warning: Battle Nexus spoiler alert**

: Chapter 10:

After Austria got situated into her new room which April helped her decorate with all different kinds of wall decorations, they decided to head out into the city to pick out a whole new wardrobe for her.

"Are you sure? Won't this be I don't know…expensive?" Austria asked. April laughed and gave her a small hug.

"Sweetie, if you knew of anything that I and they guys have been through the last couple of years you'll understand why we are so well off right now" she smiled. "Casey we'll be back soon!" April yelled up the stairs. "Alright be careful!" He responded.

They walked down the tight staircase that led into the antique shop. April locked the door behind them and made their way out the door and onto the busy streets. It was a beautiful day unlike any other. The warm sun heated the people's chilled bodies from the winter cold. Pigeons and sparrows flew frantically around the city in search of any morsels that could be spared by the humans. This was probably the first time Austria got a real look for the City and so far…she loved it.

"Ok first I thought we would take a cab to Times Square" April had a whole plan written out on paper that was labeled "To Do." "We could hit a few designer shops there then I thought we could have lunch at Olive Garden then get some desert at M and M world which is close by."

"What's M and M world?" Austria asked

"Haven't you ever been there?"

"I've never been anywhere except my own backyard" She smiled

"You poor thing! Well I guess I will need to show you around then huh?" April grabbed ahold of Austria's hand and pulled her along the busy sidewalks. Austria had a feeling her and April would get along just fine even though Donnie may have had a thing for her. She was still undecided if April had returned the feelings back but that long complicated thinking process could wait. The City was welcoming her with open arms.

**: In the Lair…:**

Donatello was pacing the kitchen frantically. His younger brother Michelangelo was trying to read the latest "Spider-Man" Comic but was constantly interrupted by an occasional mumble from the purple clad turtle.

"So Don…" He started. "Whatcha….whatcha doin?" He asked. Don failed to reply and if there's one thing Mikey hates more than Raphael, it's being ignored. "Doooooooon" He raised his voice "DOOOOOON" Eventually he was out of his seat and blocking his path "DONATELLO MY FELLOW!"

"What Mikey! Cant a guy think!?" Don grabbed his shoulders and shook him

"Cant a guy read! You're harming my environment dude!" Mike pointed a finger in his face. Don let go and sat down at the table with his head in his hands.

"What's wrong man?" Mike sat across from him and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm just…I don't know" Don never enjoyed having heart to heart conversations with his brothers let alone anyone. He practically made it a guessing game. If you figure out what's wrong with me…then we'll talk about it.

"Is it Austria?" Mikey smiled and nodded his head as if he knew that was probably the answer. Don slowly nodded and whined. "Aww it is isn't it?" Mikey laughed and approached his sobbing brother. "You know I had a crush once" He said

"You did!?" Don asked

"No not really but I'm sure It sucks a lot"

Don sighed "Thanks Mikey you're a great help"

"Anytime my green, shelly friend!" He patted his brother on the back and returned to his comic book.

"I felt the same way with April you know?" He laid his head on the table and shut his eyes

"You were always the ladies' man out of all us Donnie boy. Remember that girl we fought on Jones Farm who was from space and you two had like a thing or something and she gave you her ponytail? MAN! She was wicked cool!" Mikey exclaimed

Don whined again "Thanks for bringing that up Mikey" He sobbed

"I thought that would be a good memory for you!"

"How would that be a good memory?! That's like me bringing up to Raphael the fact that you beat him in the Battle Nexus" Don stood up and continued pacing the kitchen once more. Mikey sighed and slammed his face into his book.

**: Topside:**

"OMG look at these shoes!" Austria held up a pair of brown moccasins with blue, purple, red and orange beads sowed into the tips of them. Her inner girl was definitely coming out the moment she stepped foot into "_Gilly Hicks."_ They had everything a teenage girl could ever imagine.

"I've never actually been to this place. It's really nice" April was fingering a long blue, layered dress with red sequins around the waist line.

"It looks like they have all of the future fashions here" Austria said

"Yeah, they experiment with new looks and things trying to create a new trend. I like it a lot but this dress won't match my hair haha. Those are nice shoes" April pointed to the moccasins in her hand.

"Oh yeah…" She didn't want to admit it but the beads on the toes reminded her of a certain group of guys she met not too long ago.

"You going to pick a pair of pants and shirt to go with it?" April asked

"Look this all is really going to cost…"

"Nonsense. You leave the price to me I want you to have some nice clothes ok?" April demanded

"Yeah…ok I'll go look in the juniors then" Austria walked off to the other side of the store. She browsed through some bright color sweaters, bright colored jeans and some really unappealing jewelry. A group of teenage girls were drooling over everything she had just looked at.

"Excuse me?" Austria had walked up to them. They looked at her head, then her toes, then her head again.

"Yea?" One of the blonde girls asked

"I was just wondering what the "In fashion" was" Austria made quotations with her fingers and smiled.

"Umm…" She looked at her outfit. "Not what you're wearing that's for sure"

Aus didn't know if that should be taken as an insult or a compliment. "So will you help me?"

The girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes "Always willing to help a fashion disaster in need of a helping hand" The girl said

"Right…." That she knew, was an insult

"Come on" The girl grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to the women's section.

"Two words…Bright Colors" She pulled a blinding yellow tank top off of the top shelf. "I would take this shirt and hem it so it would fit my figure a little better" She held it up to Austria's body and tilted her head. "Yeah have you considerd a diet?" She asked

"Excuse me!?" Aus popped a hip "I weigh 140 I think that's normal for a teenage girl!"

The girls laughed and pretended to wipe tears from their eyes. "Skinny is the new fat sweetie. Have you tried becoming anorexic?"

"Are you kidding me? I couldn't go 3 hours without food!"

"Surgery?" Another girl asked

"OMG goodbye" Aus turned around and walked away "I don't need fashion advice that bad" She said to herself.

"Don't listen to them" A male voice said. She did a 360 to try and find whoever it was.

"I beg your pardon?" She said. Standing in front of her was an averaged height, young boy whose eyes were covered with the hood of his navy blue sweatshirt.

"Those are the "Bardens" and I'm surprised they talked to you, they practically run the high school and don't even walk into the same store with people like you" He said

"Excuse me!? People like me?"

"That's not what I meant!" he shook his head quickly and held up his hands.

"Yeah Yeah whatever" She stormed pass him and continued looking through the clothes

"You're not from around here are you?" He followed her

"Holy crap no" She walked off again

"Really? Cuz you've got that Brooklyn accent in there" She stopped abruptly making the boy slam into her.

"I'm from Brooklyn. I'm staying here for a few months while I learn to live on my own. Happy? Now go away" Once again, Austria walked off

"So you're staying here? That means you'll go to school with me and the Bardens" He stood on the other side of the clothes rack and looked at her.

"Yipee I'm over run with joy now please go away"

"I'm Hunter" He smiled. Austria looked at him and couldn't help but smile back. He probably had women lining up at his door with dimples like that.

"Austria" She replied

"What about it?" He teased

"That's my name"

"I know I'm just messin with yah" He tapped her should playfully

"Don't touch me" She took a few steps back

"Ouch…" His voice was rather unique. It wasn't too high but it wasn't too low either. It was just right…sorta like Donnie's.

"I need to go" She walked away before she would start crying

"Wait!" He ran up to her. "Did I say something?"

"No! You just remind me of someone and I don't wanna talk about it so goodbye. Have a nice life" She finally located April at the check-out.

"Will I see you in school?" He asked

"Yeah sure whatever" quickly she walked away and stood behind April.

"You didn't find anything?" April frowned at the shoes in her hand that weren't accompanied by a shirt and pair of pants.

"Yeah I was um…distracted" She turned around to show April the boy but he was gone.

"Well don't worry there's plenty of more stores to look at" She smiled and put the moccasins on the counter. Something in her pocket started to vibrate.

"Oh crap Aus can you get my cellphone out and tell me who it is. Im trying to Check-Out" 

"Yeah sure" Austria awkwardly reached into Aprils coat pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a cellphone but certainly didn't look like one. The front looked like a shell…a turtle shell and it the shiny metal that made up its structure was green. She flipped it open and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked. She pulled it away again and pressed a few buttons to try and answer it.

"How do you work this thing?" She pressed all the buttons that were on it but nothing worked.

"Aus?" A small voice came from the speaker so she held it to her ear again

"Helloooo?"

"Auuuus" It was Leo! Her heart almost dropped

"Leonardo!? Holy shit why don't I get one of these things?!" she screamed into the phone

"I didn't think of it Austria. Can you give April…"

"Yeah right you just don't want to talk to me. What is this like a special way to contact you guys or something?" She cut him off. He sighed into the phone.

"Yes Austria…It is now can you please…"

"I totally want one! Does it come in Orange? That's my favorite color." She jumped up and down excitedly

"Where's April" He had to keep it simple in fear of being cut off again

"Oh were checking out"

"Checking out what?!" Leo raised his voice

"Clothes….." There's was a brief pause

"Oh…well can you tell her I needed to talk to her. It's important"

"I'm sure it Is Leo. You know I don't HAVE to tell…" April grabbed the phone from Austria and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked sounded irritated

"Oh April thank God" Leo laughed

"She's not that bad Leo. We're shopping right now can it wait?"

"Sure April" He said politely

"Thanks its girls night out"

"I understand"

"No you don't" She laughed

"Haha alright bye" they hung up

"What did Leo want?" Austria looked at April with puppy eyes.

"I told him it could wait. Girls only today" April smiled softly and led her out the door to the next store. April was starting to turn into the mother she never had and this time she had to be honest with herself when she said, she actually liked it.

After a long day of shopping, eating and taking carriage rides through Central Park, the sun was starting to go down and people in downtown New York were beginning to retreat to their apartments for the night. Austria had at least six bags full of clothes and shoes from all different types of stores.

"Hang onto those girly, people will try and take them from you" April suggested

"Don't worry. No one is getting their slimy hands on these bags" They laughed together and walked along the lonely sidewalk.

"So how far is your place from here?" Aus asked

"A few blocks, maybe 9 or 10. Cabs stop coming down into this area after 10pm so we'll have to walk the rest of the way. Just keep close to me and we'll be fine" They linked arms and picked up their speed.

"Is it crime city down here?" She asked

"It's gang city more like. The Purple Dragons patrol these streets after dark."

"Way to creep me out April"

"I'm sorry haha. I probably should have thought it through before I took you down here"

They were almost to the first intersection when a group of four or five, large built men walked out of the pub and right into their path. They stopped walking instantly and paused. They men cracked their fingers and looked around, eventually spotting the two helpless woman standing behind them.

"Well, Well, Well" One of them said

"Oh God…" Austria said under her breath

"Just relax. If anything gets bad I'll call the guys" April tightened her grip and her

"If it aint the little punk that stood up to us in the alley" The same guy said

She recognized them. He and another guy standing towards the back of the group were the same two men that beat up a pedestrian in the alley when Don was trying to get her to safety.

"That would be me" Her smartass was ganna get her killed someday and she knew it.

"And your leg is all healed too. Too bad were ganna have to break it again" They snickered and pounded their fists and slowly, ever so slowly, they started advancing towards them.

"Hey April?" Austria asked

"Yeah?" She responded while pulling herself and Aus back farther from the gang

"I think now's a good time to give them a call"


	11. Chapter 11

**THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! I'm becoming much more busy with school and everything some I'm going to shoot for one chapter every other day. **

: Chapter 11:

"Run!" April and I turned around and sprinted the other way as fast as we could but the men quickly caught up and forced us to run into an alley way. Now we were trapped and alone without any hopes of a passer byer to see us and maybe calling the police. We ran as far back as we could and slammed into the brick wall. We pounded on it with our fists to see if there was some way out but there was nothing but wall here.

"Were trapped!" I screamed

April pulled out her shell cell and dialed a number "I'll try and get ahold of Leo!" Her fingers were shaking as she pressed the call button

"Look out!" I screamed to her and at that moment a thug grabbed the phone from her hand and threw it and her against the wall.

"April!" I tried to run to her aid but one of the guys grabbed me by the back of my shirt and suspended me in the air. Wow I certainly remember this situation not too long ago but the only difference was… Don wasn't here to save me. "Let me go!" I thrashed violently with my feet to try and hit one of them but I had no such luck. I could see April passed out on the concrete. Now I was alone and I was so scared. What were they ganna do to me!?

"Look at this boys" the thug threw me on the ground and used his foot to keep me down while all his thuggie friends made a circle around me.

"Is this what low life criminals do in their free time? Pick on the innocent?" I taunted. The thug growled and pressed down on me harder which made an unexplainable squeal explode from my mouth.

"Where's your little turtle friend now Austria?" He chuckled

"Are you stalking me? How do you know my name?!"

"It's simple really. The purple dragons don't just let some child walk in and disturb one of our "Daily Pickups" so the boss ran a little background check on yah" all the guys around me started laughing and pounding their fists together. "Turns out your father used to work for us" He smiled

I almost peed myself when I burst out in laughter "No shocker there!" I said

"He betrayed the Purple Dragons! And guess whose ganna pay for it?" He grinned and pushed down harder on my chest.

I gulped and felt the endless beams of sweat drip down my face. My father always seems to be involved whenever I'm about to face my death. First he shot me now I'm making up for his mistake. Typical American family I guess.

Suddenly, something jumped down from somewhere and landed behind the dude with his gigantic foot on my chest. I looked around at the men and it was like none of them had noticed it. They just continued to stare down on me like a pack of hungry wolves. Then I looked up on the roof and long and behold, there, grinning at me, was Raphael. I smiled so hard my cheeks felt sore.

"Don't I get a phone call?" I asked the Dragon with the best smirk I could execute

"A what?" he scratched the top of his head

"You're supposed to give all your prisoners one free phone call before you kill them or else their soul comes back and haunts you for eternity" I said as I heard a chuckle come from somewhere on top of the roof

"Umm…." He hesitated "I suppose…" He looked around at his boys for approval but they all looked just as confused.

"Hey!" one of the Dragons yelled. "That chick is gone!"

"What!" the thug lifted his foot off me and walked over to the spot where April had been laying.

"Leo!" I whispered but he held one finger to his lips. "Get me outta here!"

"Shh" He leaped up onto the roof next to Raphael.

"Hey guys…" I slowly got up off the ground and faced them "About that phone call…" I said with a grin. Suddenly one out of five thugs dropped to the ground out of nowhere. If you looked hard enough you could see a shadow sprinting behind them.

"On your guard!" a dragon yelled. They all pulled out weapons and went back to back. "Show yourselves freaks!" he yelled again

"Well if you insist" A voice from the shadows murmured and at that moment another thug dropped unconscious. Now the main dragon guy thrashed his steel pipe violently into the darkness. "Show…your…self!" He yelled

"Antsy little dragon aren't yah?" said another voice whose origin couldn't be pinpointed. I watched as a long staff shot out from the behind them and clocked two dragons square on the head, making them fall to the ground. Now only the two thugs who had recognized me earlier were left and that's when all four of the turtles came out from hiding and dropped into a circle around them. Intimidation level: Chuck Norris

"Guys! Boy am I glad to see you" I said

"FREAKS!" One of the dragons yelled

"Well you're not a bucket of beauty yourself dragon boy" Michelangelo teased

"Ya think its ok to pick on one of us?" Raph grinned and spun his Sais on his fingers. The two thugs lunged either way with their weapons but the guys jumped into the air and out of the way.

"Pathetic… and here I thought we would actually get some action" Raph taunted

"Come here and I'll show yah action!" A thug screamed to the red clad turtle perched on the fire escape

I couldn't help but smile up at him. This was so entertaining it was sad.

"Austria look out!" Leo yelled but before my body could react, a dragon scooped me up in his arms and took off out the alley

"AH! Help!" I slammed my fists against his back even long after they began to throb with pain.

"I'm ganna hit you're left so hard your ganna beg for a right!" I screamed. I squiggled and threw my arms around to try and break free but every time I moved he sunk his fingers deeper into my skin. I thrashed back and forth until finally the side of my hand hit the back of his neck making both of us drop to the ground and of course he landed unconscious on top of me.

"Ah shit, time to lay off the burgers pal!" I pushed on his neck with my hands to try and get out from underneath him but I was stuck. "Help! Somebody!" Soon I had one leg free but the other was still being difficult.

"Need some help?" I heard a familiar gentle voice from behind me.

"Donnie?" I asked, unable to see him

"Who?" The voice said

Just great, there was only one other person I remember who had a voice similar to Donatello's.

"Hunter…" I shrugged. He laughed and grabbed me from under my shoulders and tried to pull me out

"Stop Stop!" I screamed

"What!?"

Unfortunately the leg that was still stuck under this mammoth was the one that had been shot. I know it healed quickly but I still felt the pain from it when Hunter tried to pull me out

"My leg…it hurts" I probably sounded like a sissy

"Well what do you want me to do? I can't lift that guy off yah" He sat down next to me so I could see him. He still had that hood covering his face which was starting to get on my nerves.

"So your just ganna sit there…" I asked a little too soon because he started to push back onto the body to try and lift it. "Look you're not ganna…" Within a few seconds, the thug was rolled over onto his back and my leg was free. "Thanks…" He helped me up off the ground

"No problem" He smiled

"But you could have been here maybe ten minutes ago when a whole group of them were attacking me" I grinned

At the spur of whatever this was, guess who decided to come awake and grab my ankle.

"Ah! Give it a rest already man!" I screamed as he jumped up and dangled me in the air

"You're coming with me! And this time I'll make sure your knocked out first" the Thug raised his fist to my face and pulled back. I had a feeling this wasn't ganna feel to good so I shut my eyes and covered my face with my hands.

"He jackass" He stopped and turned around to the voice coming behind him "Put her down will yah?"

"Oh yeah? And what are you ganna do about it shrimpy?" The dragon threatened

"Shrimpy? Is that the best you got?" Hunter, who probably had zero combat skills, took a kick from the Dragon right in the chest sending him flying across the road. My hero.

A familiar voice emerged from somewhere behind us and landed on top of the dragons head, knocking him out once again.

"Donnie!" My face lightened as he helped me up off the ground

"You just can't stay out of trouble can you?" He smiled and picked me up

"Wait…can you make sure Hunter is ok?" I pointed across the street but when my eyes met where I was pointing, there was nothing there. Don looked at the road then at me

"You feeling ok?" He put his hand to my forehead

"Yeah I'm fine but I swear…"

"Austria!" Suddenly Hunter emerged from the shadows and smacked Don right in the plastron with a pipe. I felt so bad because I landed on top of him then rolled onto the sidewalk.

"Hunter!" I flipped him the middle finger as I got up off the ground "Stop he's a friend!"

The purple clad turtle was already up and had his Bo staff in ready position. I could hear the growls coming from both of them as they slowly circled each other

"Austria run!" Hunter yelled as he swung the pipe at Don who ever so nonchalantly, stepped out of the way and whacked him right in the back with his staff.

"Stop!" I ran up to them and pushed Donatello back before he could hit Hunter again "Relax, no one's hurting anyone here"

"Tell him if he tries to get up that will change" Don poked Hunter in the back as he tried to get up, making him fall again.

The rest of the guys, and April, came running down the sidewalk just in time for Hunter to get back on his feet. Leo ran ahead of the group and positioned himself in front of Don and I.

"What the…" Hunter shook his head and leaned in close to Leo who frowned and looked at him "Halloween already?" he laughed

I heard Raph growl form the back of the group and couldn't help laugh myself. "Guys relax please! Hunter…this is just a dream…you are not seeing four mutant turtles" I said

"NINJA turtles helloooo" Mikey said

"Well your obviously not ninjas cause your letting yourselves be seen!" I snapped back

"Was this guy bothering you?" Leo asked with his swords at the ready

"NO! Oh my God" I slapped my hand over my face

"Good" Leo smirked and out of the blue punched poor Hunter right in the head, knocking him unconscious.

"LEO!" I tried to reach them but Don had my arms

"Was that necessary?" April asked

"Yes" Raph murmured

"He already saw us, we best make sure he doesn't remember anything either" Leo picked Hunter up and laid him against the building behind us.

"Come on lets go before he wakes up"

**: In the lair:**

"I thought I'd never see this place again" I said as I let my leg be examined by Master Splinter with Don standing close by.

"Well if yah stayed out of trouble you wouldn't have" Raph said with a grin

April was sitting in the living room with Leonardo. They looked heavy in conversation and I hoped she wasn't telling him that I was too much to handle…

"Your leg looks fractured and your wound has come open again" Splinter said

"But I thought it healed?" I looked at Don but he looked just as confused

"All wounds can become broken again" Splinter said. I had a feeling he was talking about more than just my leg.

"Austria…" Leo was standing on the other side of me with his hand on my back "Tell me what happened"

I told him everything. I told him April and I had gone out shopping, I even told him about the girls in the one store we went to and Hunter. I said we were out shopping all day and we hadn't taken into consideration how dark it was when we decided to head downtown. "The thugs showed up out of nowhere and led us into an alley. After they got April, they told me their boss had information on my father and wanted me eliminated" I said

Mikey shrieked and gave me a hug from behind "I'll save you" He whispered

"Thaaats ok mikey" I tried to shake him off

"Why would someone want you dead for summthin you're no good father did?" Raph asked while spinning one of his Sai's.

"I'm not sure Raph. I guess I forgot to ask him while he was trying to kill me!" I screamed

"Remember when I called you?" Leo asked April who was slowly walking over to join us

"Yes?" She responded

"Don had picked up some recent heightened activity with the Purple Dragons and I was calling to warn you not to stay out too late" He put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. When I looked at Don to see his reaction he was totally ignoring them and looking at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. Then my heart exploded and I had to look away before I melted right there and then.

"Well then we know our mission" Raph was spinning both his Sai's now. "Find the goons who want our Aus dead…" He shot them both into a sand bag all the way across the room "And take em out"


	12. Chapter 12

: Chapter 12:

Darkness…it was everywhere. All I could see was dark even after I pulled my eyes open to make sure it was real. I held my hands out in front of me to try and grab ahold of something, anything. There was something different though. As I reached my hands out I could actually feel the dark. It was cold and every second I was in it I could feel my energy being drained straight from my body. I screamed for help but not even I could hear the altercations trying to escape my lungs.

Suddenly, as I turned in circles to try and find a way out, I saw a light bit it wasn't one of those lights that you want to run into. It was glowing red and it heated my freezing body as I watched it dance from side to side, getting closer and closer. I slowly backed away, and the only thing I could hear was my heart pounding inside my chest. As it got closer, my heart beat faster and faster until all I could see was red around me and my heart completely stopped. I screamed for as loud as I could because this felt so real and if it was real, someone had to be around to help me. I dropped to my hands and knees out of breath and shut my eyes but instead of seeing the usual blackness that came, I saw nothing but the smallest tint of purple and it was calling my name. Austria…Austria…Austria!

"AUSTRIA!"

My eyes shot open and I could finally hear the scream that I couldn't hear before. My throat was burning and I was sweating uncontrollably.

"Don?" I heard someone but I couldn't see anything. All I felt was a three fingered hand supporting my back. Slowly the darkness faded and a bright light forced me to look away.

"Is she alright?" I recognized that voice, Michelangelo

"I don't know. Austria can you hear me?" another familiar voice said

"Don? Yeah I can hear you" I held my hand to my forehead once it started to ache. "What happened?"

"You were screaming again" He moved my face towards his so he could look me in the eyes. He was breathing heavily and his skin was soaked with sweat. I looked around at Leo, Raph, Mikey, Splinter and April. They all looked like they just witnessed a zombie apocalypse.

"I'm fine now" I nodded at them

"Aus…you like died" Raph said "We thought we lost yah" He walked towards my bed and put a hand on my shoulder

"What do you mean I died?" I said in a panic

"Your heart stopped beating" Don said looking like he was on the verge of tears. April had her hand over her mouth and was letting her emotions fall all over the floor.

"You were screaming and it sounded like someone was TOURTURING you then Don ran in and started doing CPR and you weren't breathing…." April choked on her words and lost her balance but Leo caught her before she could fall onto the floor.

"Wait….CPR?...you kissed me?" I looked at Don. He blushed and lowered his head.

"You were dead Austria. I think that kiss might have saved your life" Leo pointed at me and protested. The room was very silent for the next few minutes while Don looked at me to make sure everything was ok. He took my pulse, listened to my heart and all that stuff over protective people do when their worried for your life. Once Donnie gave me the all clear the crowd slowly made their way out of my room but not before they hugged and criticized me for almost giving them heart attacks.

"Hey Don?" I stopped him before he was the last one to walk out the door

"Hmm?" He turned and looked at me

"Do you have a sec?" I asked. He nodded and sat down on the side of my bed.

"Did I really…die?" I was in complete shock. I started to wonder if I would still be here if Don hadn't gotten to me in time.

"I was more scared then I ever had been in my life" He said in a hushed voice. It looked like he was still trying to recover from the incident since he continued breathing heavily and shaking like he was earlier.

"You wanna know what it was like?" I asked

"Not really" He smiled

"Ok I'll tell you. I couldn't see anything…and I was cold. Then I saw this weird red light that made me feel warm again" I said

"The cold you felt was probably you…." He choked "Your heart failing" He looked at the floor. Donatello definitely wasn't use to the real world as maybe is brothers were. "And then the warmth was you being brought back again" his lips tightened

"I think the warmth was more than that"

"What do you mean?" He scooted closer to me

"I mean…I saw you…there but it wasn't you…it was like you but…not you" I said. He blinked twice trying to process what I said.

"You saw me…but you didn't?"

"I'm sorry it makes no sense" We laughed softly together. Death is just really hard to explain. He pulled the blankets from my bed up over my body and neatly folded it on my neck.

"Try to get some sleep. I'll be right outside if you need me, I'm not going anywhere" his hands were still on either side of me, still holding onto the blanket. He smiled and before he could get up and walk away, I reached my head up and softly kissed his cheek.

"That was for saving my life" I reached my hand up and cupped where my lips had just made contact with him. I slid my thumb up and down his cheek bone and gazed into his eyes. When he smiled I could see his perfectly straight, white teeth. Perfection must be a mutant thing.

"I guess I should save you more often" he said softly, still smiling. There was something about his colorless eyes that drove me wild. I could feel myself forgetting that he was a mutant, that he was just another regular person any human like myself could fall in love with.

"So are you two ganna do it or what?" Raphael's voice came from the door and made Donnie and I jump out of our skins.

"Raph dear Jesus you scared me" He held his hand over his heart and started breathing heavy again.

"Oh, a little jumpy eh Donnie boy?" Raph shot his brother a wink

"OUT" he walked to the door and pushed out the intruder. Don turned around and smiled at me before closing the door behind him.

I didn't realize I was holding my breath the whole time when a huge rush of air escaped my lungs. I held my fingers to my trembling lips and smiled. I pulled the covers over my head and squealed like any other love struck teenage girl would do. I jumped up out of bed and hugged the first pillow I saw. I shook it back and forth and buried my head into its soft plumes. How would I ever get to sleep now? My heart was racing a mile a minute so I got up and ran out the door. The lair was still dark and quiet.

"Austria?" Leo said from behind me. He was holding a cup of hot tea in both of his hands.

"Leo! Where's April?" I ran up to him, still holding the pillow in my arms

"I was just about to bring this to her but you can if you want. She's in my room down the hall but please be quiet. There are mutants trying to sleep" He smiled and handed me the mug

"Thanks I will" I ripped the mug out of this hands, spilling some of it onto the floor but I was to excited to care. I half jogged half walked down the hall to the last room and burst in.

"APRIL!" I whispered

"Oh Aus im glad you're here" April had enough tissues crumbled onto the floor to soak up Lake Michigan.

"I brought you some tea" I handed her the now half empty cup

"Thanks sweetie" She took it and made a face when she looked into it "Did yah get thirsty on the way?" We laughed together, quietly, and then sat down on her bed. "Oh Aus I was so worried. I know we haven't known each other very long but you're like a sister to me" She used her free hand to blow her nose. "I'm glad you're ok" She set down her tea and hugged me

"I'm glad too" I said "Guess what?" I pulled away and smiled at her

"What?" she smiled back

"Before I say anything…you and Donnie aren't…." I tapped my front pointer fingers together

"Oh no! I mean…before I met Casey we were close but not that close" She sniffled

"So you wouldn't be mad if I told you...maybe I kissed him?" I gave an innocent smile as her face flushed with pure joy

"Tell me all about it!"

**: The next day:**

"Alright here's the plan" Raphael slammed his fist onto the table where we all were sipping orange juice and eating our nutritious breakfast consisting of pizza, pizza and more pizza.

"We break into the Purple Dragons lair, find Hun and take him out" Raph threw his hands in the air in triumph. "What do yah think?"

"No offense Raph, but every time we face Hun it ends up with our shells getting waxed" Donnie said. I couldn't stop thinking about him ever since last night. I couldn't get any sleep even after Leo made me a special tea that was supposed to knock you out. When he asked why I couldn't sleep I just said that I was worried about dying again which was a lie obviously.

"More like, no offense Raph, but whenever you make a plan it ends up with our shells getting waxed" Mikey said taking a bite of his pizza

"You got a better idea Mikey?" Raph leaned in close to his brother who shrunk in his chair

"No but I do" Leo walked into the kitchen with Splinter trailing behind him "We need to go on recon first before we just storm into Hun's hideout. For all we know Hun may not even be behind this"

"Who else would be behind this Leo? The Muffin Man?" Raph said sounding irritated

"Well…Karai is still alive" Mikey said

"Ok hold up!" I said "Please keep me up to date here. Who's this Hun and this Karai dude?"

"Well Karai is a girl first of all" April said "And Hun is the leader of the Purple Dragons"

"And his name says it all. Hun is a brutal thief and I agree with Leonardo that you gather information first before taking such actions Raphael" Splinter said

"I ready the Battle Shell then?" Don stood up

"No…that won't be necessary…I'll take Raphael tonight and we'll head down to Hun's lair. I'll bring a shell cell to keep you up to date. April, you and Austria can go home but I'm sending Michelangelo with you just in case. Don you'll stay here and do your…tech geek thing and help me and Raph get all the information we can. If worse comes to worst you get April and the others and head to Jones Farm. Are we all clear?"

"What do you mean "If worse comes to worst"?" I asked

"If we get caught" Raph said

"But you won't right?"

Leo looked at Raph and shrugged his shoulders. "Right" he said "April, Austria, Mikey…you best be on your way"

And just as soon as I got there…I was leaving again but this time Leo didn't give me enough time to say goodbye.

"I'll walk them out…" Don started to join us but Leo caught his arm

"No…Mikey can handle it" He said

Why did I suddenly get the feeling that Leo knew something that the others didn't. That maybe he knew about a specific event that happened just last night that caused me to run into April's room squealing like a little girly girl. He looked at me with the kind of face I've never seen before. He almost looked…disappointed, but disappointed…in what?

**Reviews….APPRECIATED! :D**


	13. Chapter 13

: Chapter 13:

April peeked through the tiny opening of the manhole. Thousands of feet passed her view every second which is how she knew it was probably mid-day in New York City. "How are we supposed to pull this off?" she asked to the two people who were waiting patiently on the ladder below her.

"Well first your ganna get your ass out of my face" Mikey said

"Oh hush up Michelangelo. There are thousands of people out there. How are we ganna get from here to my place without you being seen?" She whispered

"We could stuff him in a bag!" Austria suggested which followed a horrifying shriek from Michelangelo

"Guys be quiet!" April slapped Mikey on the head "Im trying to figure this out"

"Couldn't we just walk down the sewers more until we got closer to your place?" Aus sighed

"No! I am not walking in these sewers anymore then I have too. Here's the plan, Mikey get your coat on"

"It's already on…"

"Ok smartass...let's do this" April slowly pulled the cover off the manhole and poked her head out. Several people walking on the sidewalk gave her funny looks as she crawled out from it and fixed her hair like nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

"A little help here?" Mikey reached his hand out for her to take.

"Where are your gloves? I can see your three fingered green hand from a mile away!" She snapped

"Fine! I'll get out myself" He jumped out from the hole and landed perfectly on his tip toes. His long tan cloak was covering most of his green body except for his hands and feet. He wore and old hat on his head that he fished up from the sewer water just a minute earlier when he had left his other one back at the lair.

"Mikey! Don't draw attention to yourself! No flips, No Nun-Chucking, Nothing!" April scolded

"Try saying that ten times fast…" he snickered

"If you two are done bickering I'd like to get out of this smelly sewer hole!" Austria reached her hand up for assistance. Mike grabbed it and pulled her out onto the busy sidewalk

"What's everyone staring at?" she asked. There was a crowd of at least 10 people just staring at them with open mouths

"What? Haven't you ever cleaned a manhole before?" She asked "On second thought…don't answer that"

"Excuse us but we must be going" April grabbed Aus and Mikey's hand and pulled them along behind her.

**: Somewhere close by:**

"Are they out?" Raph asked from a building above the streets. Leo was using a pair of Donatello's high tech binoculars to keep a close eye on the troublesome trio.

"Yeah…took them long enough" They were crouched down enough so they couldn't be seen in the broad daylight

"Why are we even doin this? Were riskin ourselves being out here" Raph complained

"We just need to make sure they get to Aprils safely" He continued to keep a close eye on them as the sped walked down the street "If the Purple Dragons are after Austria then they will take any chance they've got to get ahold of her"

"You're really protective of her aren't yah bro?" he grinned

"NO!" He lowered his binoculars and looked at his brother "I would do the same thing if it was any of you out there"

"Sure yah would bro…Sure yah would"

"Whatever Raph. Don't be jealous"

"Excuse meh?" Now they were both looking at each other dead in the eyes "Me jealous of what? You're short stature?"

Leo squinted his brow "My short stature?! At least I can hit a moving target!"

"Why you!.."

"Staying on topic I hope" A voice came from a headpiece that Leo had attached onto him.

"Yeah Don…" he answered

"Good. I took the opportunity to get you some layouts of Hun's lair. Turns out he's not down by the docks anymore" Don said, through the headpiece

"Well if he aint by the docks anymore then where is he?" Raph asked

"He's hiding away in an old subway tunnel that never finished construction a few decades ago. It's actually not that far from where we live now" He said

"Well that's reassuring. Thanks Don, Raph and I will be back soon"

"In one piece I hope by the sounds of it"

"Thank you…Don" Leo pressed a button on the headset that disconnected him from his brother

"If anyone aint goin back in one piece it's you bro" Raph playfully shoved his brother with his shoulder

Leo smirked and picked up the binoculars and looked out onto the busy street "Great now I lost them" He scanned back and forth but the group was nowhere to be seen. "Good God Raphael"

"And...How is this my fault?" They both got into a crouched position and inched their way across the roof. When they got to the edge, Leo pulled out his shell cell and called Mike. "Where are they?" Raph asked

"It's ringing…Hello?"

"Hey Leo! What's up?" Michelangelo was on the other end

"Where are you?" He asked

"Look down Bro"

Leo and Raph slowly looked over the edge of the building where Austria was smiling and waving. "You know you're not very stealthy!" She yelled

They ducked lower out of sight "Is she retarded? She just gave away our position!" Raph yell/whispered

"Mike tell her to stop looking up here! Someone's ganna see us" Leo said

"Oh right" They watched as he pulled Austria away from the building and dragged her along to catch up with April

"Remind me again why we sent Mikey with the girls?" Raph shook his head and rolled his eyes

**: Back on the street: **

"Guys hurry up!" April yelled behind her where Mikey was pulling Austria at his side

"Sorry" she said

"We just have to cross Central Park and we're there" April pointed to the huge trees and grass across the walkway. Horses were pulling buggies everywhere you looked and people were riding bikes on paths that led into the park.

"That's a park? It's so beautiful! I've never seen anything like it! I wanna get a closer look!" She smiled and started to run across the walkway

"Austria! What are you doing!?" Mike yelled and ran after her

"Michelangelo wait! It's not safe to cross!" April tried to grab him but it was too late. He had already caught up to Austria and grabbed onto her in the middle of the crosswalk. An oncoming car that was heading straight for them, blasted its horn while its brakes made a terrible screeching sound as it began to swerve violently, trying to come to a stop.

"LOOK OUT!" April screamed. People waiting on the other side gasped and screamed in horror as the car slammed right into the two people, sending them flying about 20 feet across the road

"NO!" She ran out into the street to the spot where Mike and Austria were lying still on the ground. The driver of the car stepped out and ran to the scene

"Sorry about that" The fat man dressed in old ragged clothes ran to meet April

"Oh my God…" She fell onto her knees and started crying.

Austria was wrapped safely in the orange turtles arms. He moaned and unwrapped himself from her body.

"Ugh…" His shell cell started to ring and the man picked up off the ground and answered it

"Umm excuse me!" Mikey jumped up and took it from his hand "Rude!" He held it to his ear "Hello?"

"Holy shit what happened!?" Leo was screaming on the other end

"Well I don't know. This IDIOT…" he gave the man a disgusted look "Doesn't know how to hit the brakes!"

"Hey pal what's your problem you had plenty of time to stop!" a pedestrian yelled

The man just stared at him with a blank face but it seemed most of his focus was on Austria who started to moan and get up off the ground ever so slowly. She looked completely unharmed except for a few scratches on her knees. When she was finally on her feet she looked at the man who had gotten strangely close to her.

"Mikey…" Leo said through the phone "Get Austria out of there…NOW!"

"Daddy?" She gasped and couldn't believe her eyes. Her jaw dropped but then she closed it and started to become encumbered with anger "Why are you trying to kill me!"

The man lunged for her out of nowhere with his fingers bent like claws. He went for her throat but was intercepted by Mike who kicked him right in the gut. The crowd of people were screaming and running as Austria's dad pulled out a gun and aimed it at his daughter

"They won't leave me alone till your dead!" He pulled back the hammer on his pistol "Say your prayers…"

"No!" Mikey jumped between them and with one clean swing of his nun chucks, he managed to take of the front of his gun then used one leg to deliver a powerful kick right in his neck, instantly knocking the wind out of him. He flew back and landed on the windshield of his car, shattering the glass and making him fall through.

Police sirens started to echo in the distance. Either the echo was coming from everywhere, or central park was about to be surrounded by cop cars.

"MIKEY!" He still had his shell cell in his hand "Get up here!" They looked up where Leo and Raph were waving for them to come.

"Come on!" He grabbed the girl's hands and led them into the closest ally. They climbed the fire escape and joined the turtles on the roof without being seen.

"Are ya guys alright?!" Raph ran and hugged his little brother then slapped him on the head

"Peachy…." Mike sat down on the roof and laid down "I'm ganna feel that in the morning though"

"How are you two not hurt?" April was looking at Austria's arms and legs for bumps and bruises while Raph did the same to Michelangelo

"Shell…never leave home without it" he slapped his plastron

"I'm fine… I'm sure it would have been worse if Mikey hadn't saved me" She said. She looked over to the edge of the roof where Leo was crouched and looking down onto the street.

"Leo?" She walked over to him and sat down. She watched as an ambulance rolled up with its lights flashing. Four men jumped out with a stretcher and worked together to get her dad out of the car. Police were everywhere. They were questioning pedestrians who looked stunned and horrified. Some of them mimicked the moves that a strange person had done that knocked the man onto his car.

"Why is your dad trying to kill you…" He kept staring onto the street

"I don't know…he said "They won't leave me alone till your dead" whose they?" She started to shiver but not from the 20 degree temperature. She was scared out of her mind

"I'm ganna take a wild guess and say the Purple Dragons" Raph said "Yah did say the Dragons mentioned your dad last night"

"I know. My dad tried to kill me on the bridge a few days ago but I think that was just out of anger and not the reason he tried to kill me again just now" Austria said

"I bet the Dragons confronted your father" April guessed "Maybe they went through with their threat. If he didn't want to pay for his mistake he had to kill you in replacement"

"It sounds disgusting but it's a possibility" Leo said

Austria brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Maybe it would be best…if I wasn't alive anymore" She wiped a stray tear from her face

"How could you ever say such a thing?" Leo was looking at her now "You can't just throw your life away like that. I know it's hard but we're going to get through this I promise. We're going to find these guys and put a stop to them and you'll be safe again" He looked back out onto the street and sighed "Let's get you guys to April's house then. Now that we know your dad wants you too…Raph…" He looked at his brother who nodded his head without an explanation. He would stay with Mikey and the girls too. "Alright…let's go"

Leo ran off the building away from the now busy streets of Central Park. He did flips off the fire escape and landed in the ally next to a manhole cover "Come on guys" He pulled it off and jumped down into the sewer.

"Really? I just got out of the stinky sewer!" April complained

"Heheh don't worry April I'll protect you from the big bad sewer monsters" Mikey grabbed her arm and helped her down the escape

She sighed "Aren't I just the luckiest gal in the City"

They all piled down the ladder while Raph made sure no one had seen them, then put the lid back on the opening.

"Oh this one smells even worse than the last one!" April shrieked as Leo helped her off the ladder

"It's all the same April" He said "Come on this way"

They treaded through the ankle high waters and listened to the sounds of their splashes echo all around them. The sewer was damp and cold and was especially unbearable in winter when the water would begin to freeze.

"I swear the farther we go the more shit I walk in" Aus pinched her nose with her fingers and gaged

After 10 minutes of complaining from the girls, the arrived at a ladder that would lead up to the surface

"OK this is it. Go up here, make a left and you're at April's apartment. NO and I mean NO stops on the way. You go STRIAGHT there got it?" Leo said

"Don't worry Leo I'll make sure they stay in line" Raph gave a three fingered thumbs up and winked. "You be safe to Bro"

"I will, now go"

Raph went up the ladder first and scoped it out "Alright…cmon" He stayed in the shadows of the buildings and out of sight. April went next and after her, Mikey. Austria went to the base of the ladder and hesitated. She looked at Leo who lifted his head at her.

"It would be better…"

"Why would you kill yourself Aus? Don't you think that would make Donatello a bit upset?" He smirked

"Pfft….why would that make Don upset!?" She popped a hip and cocked her head at him

He lost the smirk and rubbed the back of his head. "Umm…."

"Were you eaves dropping on me and April's conversation last night?!"

"Actually Mikey was and he has trouble keeping secrets" Leo said

"So everyone knows…"

"Knows what? You said it wasn't true so what are you worried about?" His smirk returned. Austria stomped her foot and tried to throw a good comeback at him but nothing came out so she just growled and climbed up the ladder. Leo chuckled and shook his head "Be safe guys!" He yelled up the ladder "Go straight there!"

"Yeah Yeah we got it Leo. Cmon guys" Raph led the way through the series of connected ally's. They stayed well out of sight until they reached the shop. Mikey walked sideways so his brother, who wasn't covered, could hide his appearance from the population. April unlocked the door with her key and walked in. Something was beeping in the corner of the room and she rushed over to answer it

"God Casey is probably worried sick" She pushed a button on a machine and listened to the messages.

"Haven't seen this place in years awhile" Mike said while looking around and touching all the antiques

"Can you guys go upstairs please? If people walk in their ganna either scream or call the police"

"Or both" Raph said. They walked through the tiny door in the back and walked up the cramped stairs to her apartment. Austira instantly crashed on the couch and started to snore

"I call raiding the fridge!" Mike ran into the kitchen

"Hey Aus" Raph asked. She moaned in response "Let's see if the accident hit the news yet" He grabbed the remote that controlled the small floor television and flicked it on to life. "Check it out"

There was a well-dressed woman standing in front of some yellow caution tap and behind her was the scenery of Central Park. A caption on the bottom of the screen read "Hit and Run: Ninja's in NYC?"

"At approximately 12:43 this afternoon…" The woman began "Witnesses say two pedestrians were jaywalking across this walkway and were hit by an oncoming vehicle. The driver of the vehicle then pulled a gun on the two victims and was attacked by one of them. He was thrown onto the windshield of his car and had been taking into the hospital. He is currently in critical condition and no information has been released yet concerning his health. What stunned most people, was that the victims vanished right after the accident. A "Hit and Run" in terms" The camera panned over to a civilian then the banner at the bottom said "Jarrett Holden from NYC"

"Yeah I saw the whole thing; this guy comes speeding around that corner. He had plenty of time to stop but he didn't. Then one of the dudes went all ninja on him and beat the living %$^ out of him" The man said

"More information will be released upon a later hour" The woman finished then Raph shut off the TV

"So he didn't die?" Austria said in a quiet voice.

"Unfortunately, but lucky for us we get to do it ourselves now" He grinned

"You're really ganna kill me dad?" She asked

"I aint ganna kill him Aus" Raph pulled out a Sai and spun it between his fingers "Just teach him a lesson. If he happens to die during that then…there's nothing we can do"

"Raph…promise me something…" Her voice sounded cold "If were in a situation…where he has to be killed…you'll let me do it" She said quietly

"If that's really what you want Aus"

"RAPH Please understand!" She raised her voice

"I do understand Aus…I promise" 


	14. Chapter 14

**This chapter might be a little weird because I'm going to change POV during the story. Assume whenever I make a bold caption I'm also changing the POV.**

**ENJOY! Thanks for the awesome reviews!**

: Chapter 14:

"But why can't I go with you! This is my problem too! Leo are you listening to a word I'm saying!" It was almost midnight and I was following Leonardo around April's house like a sick puppy while he gathered last minute supplies before He and Raph would head to the subway tunnel where Hun and the Purple Dragons were "supposedly" keeping fort.

"I already told you Austria it's too dangerous why can't you understand that?" He said, obviously trying desperately to keep his cool

"Are you sexist or something?!" He stopped what he was doing and looked at me

"Why does you being a girl have anything to do with this?" He started to raise his voice a little

"All I'm saying is…I'm ready to kick the butt of those idiots who tried to kill me!"

"Austria you don't even know how to fight" Raph chimed in from the living room

"Not only that but if we do get caught, which is highly unlikely, they will kill you right there and then. At least if you stay here with Mikey, Donnie and Casey you'll be safe if worse comes to worst ok?" He tilted his head and gave me a small smile. I brought him close to me and whispered in his ear

"The only reason I'm not arguing with you anymore is because Donnie is here" I pushed him back

"I know" He kept his smile and walked into the living room. "Ready Raphael?"

He jumped up off the couch and walked towards the door of April's apartment "I've been ready since yesterday bro. Haven't kicked bad guy ass since I can't remember when"

"Be safe for evens sake" April hugged each of them under Casey's watchful eye. Raph shot his bud a wink once he wrapped his arms around her. Casey smiled and shook his head then pointed to Raph, then himself and pounded his fists together. He rolled his eyes and let go of her with a grin on his face.

"Don't die!...on second thought….Don't die Leo!" Mikey waved to his brothers from the lazy boy chair next to Don in the living room

"You better hope I do Mikey cuz if I come back here it's to slay your sorry little ass" Raph said

"I'll be here as often as I can to keep you up to date" Donatello was seated at the small table in the living room with all his computers hooked up that made wires run all around the room. He had on this black head set with a microphone lowered to his mouth. If he wasn't attractive already this kind of put the icing on the cake.

"Thanks Don. We'll be back as soon as we can" Leo waved goodbye and took off out the door with Raphael close behind him. He swung the door shut and then the room was quiet, so quiet you could probably hear a pin hit the floor.

"Well…ANTM comes on in thirty minutes" Mikey said while turning the TV on

"You watch America's Next Top Model?" I popped a hip and raised my brow at him

"Donnie does too" He said

"I do not!" He swung around in his chair and slapped his brother on the head. "Don't be making up stories Michelangelo"

"I'm not making up stories! Me and Donnie boy watch it together and pick out which girls we think will make it to the finals. It's pretty rad" He nodded his head while stuffing his fifth slice of pizza into his mouth "You should know Aus…you won the last season didn't you?" He smirked at me

"Oh Mikey…your compliments fill me with unfathomable joy" I snickered

"Didn't she Don!?" He yelled

"Go away" He was typing things into his computer and I wondered if he was trying to hide his most likely blushing face

"Oh hey Mikey didn't you win one of those shows too? What was it again? Americas Ugliest Mutant?" Casey rubbed his chin and looked at the ceiling

"At least I wasn't nominated for Worlds Hairiest Gorilla!" Mike could throw those comebacks like a baby could throw spaghetti O's. I could learn a few things from him.

"Long hair is in this year Mikey!" Casey grabbed his long black hair and twirled it in between his fingers

"Right, just like crocs and silly bands" Don said

"Hey! Those were cool!" Casey pointed his finger at the olive green turtle

"Yeah while they were interesting, now they're just a pigment of what used to be the "Hip" thing" Don replied. Listen ladies, geeks are probably the most attractive thing in the world get them while their hot and this one, is the exact definition of that with a capital H.

"Casey's just mad cuz his entire wardrobe consist of Crocs and Silly Bands" Mikey laughed

"At least I have a wardrobe!"

"OOOHH" Me and Don held our hands to our mouths and laughed

"Someone get the first aid and treat that burn" I started to laugh uncontrollably then I don't know why but I fell onto the couch because I couldn't hold myself up anymore from all the laughter. Mikey slouched in his chair, defeated. Score one for Casey Jones.

**: Beneath NYC: **

They walked with the steps of a feather, barely making a sound as they used flashlights to scope out the subway tunnel. Left and right they scanned the walls for any secret passageways they might have missed or are invisible to the naked eye. They walked slowly and it was as if ghosts were prowling the tunnels. They foundation above them rumbled from the passing cars overhead and the flimsy structure of the abandoned subway tunnel rocked back and forth with every breath the turtles took.

"Seems like a perfect place to hideout in" Raph whispered while pointing his flashlight at the cracked cement walls and the broken gravel floor. "This place is gotta be at least a hundred years old or somthin." Suddenly the structure started to shake more than it already was.

"Raph we gotta keep it down" Leo hushed his brother. It settled and dropped dust onto the two turtles, turning their head and shoulders a light brown

"I know man, but the more we go into this place the more I start to think the dragons couldn't possibly be here. Their too…rowdy and stuff and this place is so fragile yah know?" He tried his best to whisper

"Yeah I'm getting that feeling too Raph" He answered finally

"I'm doing some diagnostics now. I'm trying to find maybe a blueprint or something that can show me the layout of the tunnel but I can't seem to find anything" Don spoke through Leo's earpiece. "Oh wait found something...that's strange…its only half completed. I can walk you through up to the first cut off but that's all. It's a possibility the print is correct and maybe the tunnel just ends there. You guys will have to find out."

"Don't worry Don. We'll soothe ya curiosity" The tunnel was so quiet, Raph could hear his every words through the small earpiece.

"Shhh" Leo held up his hand and stopped moving. A piece of wood fell from the ceiling and landed in the spot where they were about to walk. "We have to be more careful. This thing could collapse any minute which could be a great reason to set trip wires so watch where you step"

"Good thing you're in front me bro" Raph said

They continued down the dark abyss and listened to Donatello's directions on where to go. Most corridors led to dead ends or strange drop offs that fell into the sewers.

"Ok take the next right, my map ends there but let me know what you see" He said

Leo cautiously looked down the tunnel on the right. He flashed his light on the floor to make sure it wasn't a drop off. He slowly proceeded through and was instantly embraced by a cold draft, even colder than the one already creeping through the subway.

"Well?" Don asked

"It's cold and really dark. My flashlight can't see ten feet in front of me"

"That's strange. Maybe you should just come back. It might not be safe"

"No way! The dragons are probably just tryin to scare us away!" Raph yelled and his voice echoed all throughout the subway, making small pebbles fall from the ceiling and walls.

"Raph…did you hear that?" Leo asked. He hesitated and leaned into the small passageway. "More like what you didn't hear, your voice didn't echo through this tunnel"

Raph walked up to his brother and looked in. "Yooo" He said but his voice only went around himself and ran down the tunnel going the opposite direction.

"Hey Don, there's no sound coming from this tunnel" Leo said

"Umm…well it could mean you're at a dead end. Or, there's a vacuum…like in space" He replied

"What's it like in space?"

"Well, there's no oxygen, temperatures can reach up to -129 degrees Celsius, and it's a vacuum so you wouldn't be able to physically hear anything. There's a lot of pressure…"

"Let me stop you there" Leo interrupted. He reached his hand out into the tunnel then slowly started to walk in. "Don…I feel like something is pulling at my arm" He pulled it away and walked back out. When he looked at his hand it was a yellow color but slowly returned back to its sea green tint.

"Is it possible that whoever lives down here has created some sort of environment similar to the ones out in the solar system?" He questioned

"We were hoping you could tell us" Leo said

"It seems highly impossible but perhaps the Dragons are more advanced than we thought. That or the abandonment of the subway has caused some sort of chemical reaction from the rotting materials and created this atmosphere" Don sounded bewildered "I can't wrap my head around it"

"Maybe they went up into space and brought some of it back" Raph smiled

"You'll have to come back and get proper equipment to explore further" Don commanded

"We're ok Don…I could breathe when I walked in there"

"Leo you don't know how far it goes! What if it gets worse as you go deeper!?"

"Then we'll turn around and come back" Leo started to walk into the vacuum. Raph hesitated but slowly followed him in. Their lights were practically useless, they couldn't see anything more than a few feet away so they were clueless as to where they were stepping. Raph opened his mouth and spoke words but couldn't hear anything.

"We should bring Mikey in here" They thought simultaneously

The mysterious corridor seemed to go on forever. It got colder and colder as the progressed further and the pressure began to steadily increase making their hearts pound. Eventually, a small red light emerged from the other end. It grew bigger and bigger as they walked closer to it.

**: At April's Apartment:**

"Don, how are they doing?" April put her heads on his shoulders

Donatello, not wanting to worry his friend about all the danger his brothers may have just walked into, simply told her they were doing well.

"Good, I'm going to make some tea would you like some?" she asked

"No thanks April, I'm good"

She patted his shoulders and walked into the kitchen to prepare the Tea

"I know a liar when I see one" Austria was sitting at the other end of the small table finishing her first real dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Yes, it was a little late to be eating but no one could sleep that night so April made a meal to try and calm her nerves

"What are you talking about? Their fine"

"Donnie…Are you just telling yourself that?" She put her fork down and looked at him. He sighed and waved her over.

"You can't tell anyone else. I don't want them to worry. Especially April"

"So you don't care if you worry me?" she teased

"No, I mean Yes! I do but…" He stuttered

"It's ok, just tell me" She laughed and put her hand on his shoulder sending chills up his spine.

"They found this corridor that has the same atmospheric qualities as a subzero environment, low pressure, cold temperatures and no sound waves. Its mind bobbling really" He said in his best "I'm totally not worried about this" tone

"Why would they go in there? That's totally not safe"

"I know I tried to tell them to come back but Leo insisted on investigating" Donatello slouched in his chair and whimpered.

"Aww don't worry I'm sure they'll be fine. Have a little hope" She cupped his face in her hands and let them be warmed by his burning cheeks. "Are you catching a cold? You're like burning up"

"Yeah you could say that" He reached his hands up and wrapped hers in his own. He closed his eyes and for once in his life, actually started to relax. He got a feeling in his stomach that no even April could have created while he _thought _he was desperately in love with her. Austria sparked something inside him that only she could have created. It was the most calm he's ever felt in years and what he thought he felt for April, was nothing compared to what he felt for this injured girl that he found dying on the street not even a week ago.

**: Austria's POV:**

For some reason I slept like a baby that night. While Don was up all throughout that time period trying to keep contact with his brothers, I was on the couch with my pillow and blanket snoring like a grizzly. At least that's what Mikey told me once I woke up at noon the next day. Only one thing was out of the ordinary for me, I remembered that night I almost died but I didn't remember the making out with Donatello part, ok maybe not _making out_ but you get the idea, I remembered the dream I had that caused me to "Die." It was that creepy ass darkness, and the temperature, and my heart beating fast, and not being able to hear my own screams for help. It all came back to me once Don mentioned the environment Leo and Raph had discovered in the subway. I wonder if they saw red and purple lights too.

I knew I was abnormal once I saw my gunshot wound heal out of nowhere and when I looked at my knees where the scratches had been from the accident, they had completely vanished and those were some pretty deep cuts too. Maybe I could see things. I'm not sure what kind of things but I know Raph and Leo are probably heading for trouble. If I died in that dream, there's a good chance they will too.

**I hope all the jumping around POV's didn't make the story confusing! I'm sorry about all the "cliff hanging" or as you guys call it. **_**I**_** simply call it "Suspense" and that's what keeps it interesting! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm going to try to POV with one of the turtles. This is just an experiment to see if I can capture the personality of them and if I can, I will continue with it in the future! My only worry about doing this kind of writing is not being able to display the character and make them act like they would in the shows. I've read a lot of TMNT FanFics that involve getting the Turtles point of view and in my opinion the hardest one to capture I think is Leonardo because he's the leader and does most of the heroic work so I'm going to take a shot at this…here I go. Please review what you think of it thanks! xD**

**BTW: This chapter is a little gory so be careful if you don't like that sort of thing**

: Chapter 15:

"Should have listened to Don, Should have listened to Don" Those words kept bouncing around in my stubborn, hard-headed skull. It's good to learn when to go by the advice of others and not think everything you do will be right, and going into this "Cave" after all the signs literally spelled "DANGER," was just one of the dumbest ideas I've ever had. I don't mind risking my own life to put an end to Hun and the Purple Dragons, but risking Raphael's too? Sometimes I had to second guess my role as a brother and not a leader.

We walked into that tunnel and followed that strange red light until it brought us to the very end, little did we know, the very end was literally, the end. Not the end of the subway, but the end of our journey because my stupidity and blindness got Raphael and I captured by the Dragons. Thankfully for those cheating bastards, we fainted before we even reached their lair on the other side because if we had been conscious, I was almost certain we would have kicked the living shell out of them. I'm no scientist like my brother Donatello, but I figured the temperature and pressure coming from that tunnel is what caused us to black out and now here we are, chained to a wall being kept like animals. We were gagged and I don't know about Raph, but I was sweating uncontrollably.

"Should have listened to Don, Should have listened…" My guilty conscious wouldn't give me a break. I rolled my head across the wall and looked at Raphael who was looking straight into my eyes. He didn't look angry at all like I would have expected, he almost looked helpless. Does he think this is the end of us? I wish I didn't have this rag in my mouth so I could tell him "There was no way we are going down without a fight" but knowing Raphael, I probably don't need to tell him that.

**: At April's Apartment (Austria's POV):**

With enough thought and a well-executed plan I decided to pay my "father" in the hospital a little visit. I know I'm deciding this out of the blue but I needed to speak with him, find out what he knows about the Purple Dragons. What? You really thought I was just ganna sit around and do nothing while Leo and Raph got all the fun? Sadly, there was no one I was going there alone with an unpredictable physco-maniac and I needed someone to come with me. Casey and April were out of the question, they would never let me go back out into the city after what happened yesterday. I don't think I could take Michelangelo seriously on this mission but I had a really bad feeling that Donatello wouldn't let me go either. Of course he wouldn't, he's been keeping a full profile on me ever since I woke up this morning. You know the weird part? I didn't mind it either. I thought it was…kinda sweet that he cares so much about me. My stomach got light and fluffy again and I smiled down at the dishes in my hands.

Ok so…Mikey it was…great. I finished washing the dishes and put them on a towel to dry. I wiped my hands with a paper towel and rolled down my sleeves. I took a deep breath and walked into the living room.

"I'm boooored" Mikey was lying upside down on the living room couch flipping through the channels on the TV.

"Here goes nothing" I walked up to him and grabbed the remote

"What the-"

"Listen Michelangelo I need to talk to you" I grabbed his wrist and pulled him off the couch making him land on the floor with a _thud_.

"OK OK! Feisty little-"He started to get up off the ground when I yanked on his arm, making him stumble and fall into the kitchen. Way to draw attention to yourself Aus.

"Listen Mikey I need you to do me a favor "

"Hell no! Not after that!" He dusted off his plastron

"PLEASE! It involves stealth and awesomeness? "I folded my hands and raised my bottom lip over my top. He looked behind him to make sure no one was listening then smiled at me

"What kinda favor are we talkin about here?" He leaned in close to me and grinned

"I need to go to the hospital my dad's in and find him" I whispered

He jerked away and widened his pure white eyes at me. "SAY WHAT?!"

I pulled him low to the floor and shushed him. "Please Mikey, It's the only way were ganna get information on the Dragons"

"What are you ganna do when you find him? Squeeze out all the good juicy facts then stab his arm with a needle full of gasoline?!" He was whispering/yelling at me like I was some kind of crazy drug addict.

"I was planning on skipping the killing part, even though I told Raphael I wanted to kill him" Mike looked at me and made a disgusted face

"You did what now?!"

"That's beside the point. If he tries to kill me again ill unplug his oxygen mask or whatever and that will be the end of it but PLEASE Mikey I can't do this alone!" A grabbed his hands bandana strings and yanked on them until he begged for me to stop with the answer I was looking for.

"Ok Ok!…I'll do it…but you have to buy me one large pepperoni pizza all for myself once we get back!" He held out his hand for me to shake

"Deal" I grabbed it and yanked it up and down "Let's go. Suit up"

"Guys come quickly!" April ran into the kitchen and got our attention. We jumped up in a worry and followed her to the small table Don was sitting at. He looked so tired it almost made my heart melt and not in the lovey romantic way.

"I just lost contact with the guys" He was typing furiously at his keyboard and pressing buttons on his headset. "I don't know what happened I can't reach them at all. The signal is completely lost"

"What would cause that Don?" Casey asked with his arms crossed.

Don stopped typing and slowly turned in his chair so his feet hung off the side. "Yesterday, the guys found this mysterious corridor. I told them it wasn't safe but Leo insisted on going in. I think that's why I can't contact them at all."

"When were you going to tell us this?!" April looked horrified

"I didn't want to worry you, I'm sorry. I thought they would make it through"

"So what do we do now?" Mike asked

Don sighed and moved back to face his computer. "I don't know. We can't send anyone else down there it's too dangerous. Were just going to have to wait"

"How long are we ganna wait? They could be in trouble!" Casey was whaling his arms around in the air like a madman. "My best bud is down there!"

"And both my brothers are down there. I know how you feel but we can't make stupid rash actions just because were afraid" Don kept typing into his computer. I felt so bad for him, all this pressure just piling down on his shoulders like a mountain on the earth. If everyone wasn't around I would walk up behind him and massage them like I did yesterday.

"We'll wait a few days, if they don't respond… I'll go down" He said softly

There was no way in hell I was letting the first person I ever cared about in my life just walk straight into his death. If Raph and Leo disappeared down there that means he would too.

"I'll go with you" I sad with an unsure tone which was totally unintended

"Absolutely not!" April yelled

"With all due respect, you can't really stop me" I stood up straight and rolled my shoulders back.

"Austria…I don't want to lose you too" Don was using that little puppy tone that was starting to get on my nerves the way it made me suddenly listen to him "I'll go down with better equipment so I don't lose communication with you guys. I'll be fine"

It's like he knew the really reason why I wanted to go into the subway but he was right too. At this point I didn't care if we found the Dragons hideout or not, it was a matter of his safety.

"I guess I'll have to compromise then. If you die down there, I die up here"

**:** **Somewhere in the abandoned subway:**

I struggled with all the energy I had left in my body. I thrashed back and forth to try and shake the chains but who was I kidding, we were trapped down here. I needed to rely on my other senses to try and figure out where the hell we were. Master Splinter always told us to "use anything we could to help us in a fight" and finding out where me and my brother were being held hostage was the first part of this fight. I couldn't see anything except dull shadows of objects in the room. I could feel the tacky, moist air falling gently over my sweating body. I lifted my head to the ceiling and sniffed the air. I could only smell one thing, seawater so I tried to get an idea of where this place was. The only thing I could think of was the docks but Donnie said the Dragons weren't there anymore. So this raises the question, do I trust my intelligent brother, or my own instincts? I suppose leaders like myself ask themselves these questions a lot.

Suddenly, my skin tightened and my body became stiff as I heard footsteps but they weren't just any human footsteps. They were heavy and irregular just like someone I know all too well. I growled as his stench filled my nostrils. He walked up to me with a smile on his ugly square shaped face. Hun wasn't just your average human being. He was large, built for combat and incredibly powerful. Definitely not someone you want to underestimate in a battle.

"Well Well Well. Have fun getting in here? The aerospace technology was designed by Baxter Stockman himself. Too bad he's no longer with us" his hand was almost as big as my entire body. He grabbed my face and pulled it close to his, making the chains attached to my arms and legs rattle. "If it isn't the turtles" His voice was deep and cunning. "Where's the rest of your bang gang?" He suddenly pulled his hand away and brought it down on my face with excessive force. I could hear Raphael scowl as I lowered my head moaned from the pain. "I have no idea how you found this place but I can certainly tell you how your leaving it"

He pointed to three huge German Shepard's that were attached to a chain on the other side of the room. These weren't your averages pooches though, they were extremely large and their muscles poked out from their skin and were easily visible from a mile away. I had no doubt in my mind they were some form of mutation like my brothers and I. When they barked and growled the room shook and caused dust to fall from the ceiling. Their teeth were as long as razors and they were walking in their own pools of saliva.

"Pieces" He said with a grin then started executing a deep, malevolent chirr. I swear if I didn't have this gag in my mouth I would be cussing him out like a sailor but getting revenge on Hun wasn't my main priority right now. I needed to us out of these chains and fast before we became dog food.

I started to mumble and scream. I needed this thing out so I could get some answers from him. He look at me and raised on brow.

"Ungag him, I think the freak is trying to tell us something" He grinned

Two Purple Dragons forcefully yanked the rag off me. My mouth was dry and tasteless making it hard for me to talk.

"You're after a girl…" I used a deep threatening tone. I almost scared myself because I sounded so violent and serious. Hun lost the smile and looked at me expectantly.

"What do you know about her?" He slammed his fist on the wall next to my head. The vibrations rattled inside my skull, giving me a temporary headache.

"I know you're after her Hun and I'm telling you, you'll never get your gruesome claws on that girl!" I yelled the best I could but my voice choked when I tried.

"Look here, Leonardo is it? I don't think you fully understand what this girl is capable of. Since you're going to die anyway, I'll just tell you what you failed miserably to protect" Hun took a few steps back and ripped to gag from Raphael's mouth. He instantly growled and threatened to drag Hun's sorry ass straight to hell.

"Austria Westly, daughter of Mercedes and Lewis Westly"

"Is that her stripper name?" Raph grinned which followed and punch in the gut from a Purple Dragon goon.

"You'll be amazed what information you can find on people with the right resources. Turns out her father used to work for us believe it or not. As of now he's on our most wanted list. Betrayed the Dragons 7 years ago during a heist near Broadway and took all the goods for himself and you know what he used all that cheddar for? Research, on creating a superhuman. Want to take a wild guess who that is?" He grinned, showing his uneven teeth.

I felt like someone just shot an arrow through my heart. My breathing suddenly began spasmodic and I felt my eyes drift to the ground below Hun's feet. "Austria" I whispered. Hun chuckled and patted my head like I was another one of his dogs.

"Makes sense though. After the experiment was successful, Lewis got millions of dollars from the company. Because their research was illegal, he was paid under the table so no one ever knew about it. Sneaky little bastard he was. It still makes me sick to my gut so I struck a deal with the guy" Hun pulled out a pocket knife and started fingering it with his hand. "He loses his research, I let him live. It was a Win Win deal. I even had my men deliver the message "Personally" all the dragons started chuckling and rubbing their hands together like sinister clowns. "So I put a price on the girls head"

Raphael had his head lowered but his expression was still displaying excessive amounts of rage and fury. He was exhaling deep, spry breaths. Any moment now he would explode and seeing Raph like that even made me a little on edge.

"Do you have any idea what she's capable of?" Hun asked

"No but I have a feelin your ganna tell us" Raph remarked

"Imagine being able to heal your own body at an incredible rate and re-growing limbs like it was completely natural. Not only is she regenerative, but the documents that came with her after she was born, show that she may even be immortal."

I couldn't believe Hun was finding some joy out of the sick, twisted minds of mankind. Actually, I could believe it considering he is practically one of them.

"So, I suppose you know where she is" Hun raised the knife under my chin and tilted my head up. I looked him straight in the eye and I felt my brow pinch into a raged expression.

"You can tear my body to shreds Hun…I'll never tell you where she is" I felt the tip of the knife slowly sink into my flesh. He kept the same smirk on his face as he pushed the knife deeper into my throat. I felt the warm, sticky blood begin to trickle down my neck and fall under my plastron but I stayed strong even as he slightly twisted the weapon and pulled it out.

"No! Leave him alone you worthless shit!" I heard the rattles from Raph's chains and I knew he was struggling again to break free.

"You will die here. I think I'll let you suffer just a bit longer, and then it's the dog's turn to put a beating on you two freaks." He took the knife that was now veiled with my blood, and threw it directly at Raphael. It landed in his shoulder, making him scream and curse like a madman. I watched in horror as the blood from his arm flowed down and finally fell from his fingertips. Hun and his gang laughed then walked off into the darkness feeling satisfied as Raph threw his head back and gritted his teeth.

"Raph! Are you alright!?" I tried to yell over his cries of pain

"Yeah Bro…I just hope ya don't have Aids" He smiled under his torment. I tried to laugh with him but I couldn't under the circumstances

"Bro we gotta get outta here" He moaned

"Thank you for stating the obvious" I teased, trying to get his mind of the pool of blood that began to muster underneath him.

"If I could just get the knife outta my arm…" He began to pull his shoulder towards his face. He opened his mouth and grabbed the end of the knife with his teeth "This is gunna hwurt wike hell" He mumbled and slowly began to pull his head away from his arm with the knife still tightly clenched in his teeth. He growled and had to stop for a minute to catch his breath then continued the painful withdrawal until the knife was free floating under his mouth. His wound began to bleed; restarting the waterfall down his arm and onto the floor. He lifted his head up and let the handle of the weapon sink until he got a good hold of it.

"Be careful Raph" I warned him as he began to saw at the chain on his left arm. It looked like a pretty sharp knife but it most likely wasn't strong enough to break these dense metal clamps. In the time it needed to anyway.

About 10 minutes past and Raph still wasn't free after all his power and effort was being centered into this one task that certainly meant life or death. The bad part was I heard footsteps coming from across the room. Hun was returning to finish us off.


	16. Chapter 16

**WARNING: GORE ALERT**

: Chapter 16:

I literally saw my life flash before my eyes as Hun grabbed the chains to his three mutant dogs and unhooked them from the post. They were salivating more than Mikey does over a hot, fresh pepperoni pizza. But if there's one thing I know about mutant animals like these, they are extremely unpredictable. As Hun let go of the chains, Instead of charging me and Raphael, they charged the nearest warm body they could sniff out and it happened to be a few Purple Dragons. Thankfully, it bought Raphael a bit more time as he tried to saw his left hand free with a knife between his teeth.

The Dragons pulled out weapons and began to beat the animals but Hun de-armed them and let the dogs continue their rampage. He smiled and laughed as Dragon after Dragon fell to the ground with a huge wolf sized animal straddling them and tearing apart their flesh. One dragon pulled out a gun and started shooting off rounds into an oncoming dog. I gasped; the bullets weren't even stopping them. The dog continued to run as fast as it could until it leaped upright and bit into its victim's neck. I looked over to Raph who started to slow down.

"Raph hurry! Their running out of bodies!" I yelled to try and encourage him but I think he only became more anxious. He stopped for a quick second and looked up at his surroundings. The dogs were sniffing and nipping at the bodies on the ground. They growled, losing interest in them so they began to sniff out the room and look for something else to tear apart. Then, one spotted us. He gave a deep snarl making the others sniff us out too. They hunched their shoulders and lifted their lips so their huge teeth almost popped out of their bloody mouths. They slowly began to prowl towards us, like a lion stalking his prey.

"RAPH!" I screamed. He began sawing again with every ounce of strength he had left in his colorless, weak body. Raph was always known to be the strongest on our team. Not just physically but also mentally. He could have lost his arms and legs and he would still fight until the breath was sucked out of him. I hoped that he learned this trait from me whenever my brothers were in danger, I would always fight till the very end for them. And now Raph was showing his courage and strength as he fought now to save both our lives.

The largest dog of the pack leaned back on its hide legs and pounced straight for Raphael. His mouth was wide open and his front paws were sharp and ready to dig under his plastron. I couldn't tell if I was screaming or not, I couldn't hear a thing but the beat of my heart that was ready to pound out of my chest. Suddenly, I heard a snap and then saw the dog fly all the way across the room and slide into the shadows.

Raphael swung the knife at the chains locking his other hand, then the chains on his feet. He was free and Hun didn't like it one bit. He yelled and ordered his men to attack but he seemed to have forgotten something. His army was dead, slaughtered by his own pet experiments and now this would lead to his defeat as my brother rushed over and cut me loose. We had lost our weapons somehow during the struggle but a trained ninja is taught how to use anything, and turn it into a lethal weapon. Raph had a knife I had the chains that once confined me to the wall. This should be interesting.

**: April's apartment: **

I decided I would head to the hospital with Mikey at night when April and Casey were asleep. I knew poor Don was probably ganna be up all night trying to get ahold of his lost brothers. I felt so bad for him. He wouldn't eat, drink, sleep or even talk most of the time. Not even to me. Out of all his brothers, he had the most heart and was so selfless that I started to think he was an angel sent directly from heaven.

I peeked around the corner of the kitchen wall and watched as he checked his cell shell. He sighed and put it back down on the table and continued typing and clicking things on his computer. I knew it was just a matter of time before he would set out and search for Leo and Raph himself so I had to make this hospital trip fast so I could get home and stop him from leaving.

"Ready Mikey?" I turned around and made sure my partner was prepared

"How are we ganna get past Donnie?" He crept up behind me and peeked around the corner

"We'll just walk out" I pointed to a large window on the other side of the living room

"I know that! How are you ganna get out without your boyfriend seeing us?"

"Easy we'll just…hey! He's not my boyfriend!" I yelled

"SHH! You're lucky Don has headphones in loud mouth!" He exclaimed

"Alright…follow my lead"

Don was facing away from us so getting out the door shouldn't be that difficult but when I took my first step, the hardwood floor creaked and Donatello swirled around in his chair. He's eyes were starting to turn pink and his skin looked lighter than his usual pigment but his voice was still strong yet it had that sweet tone only he was capable of using.

"Where are you two going?" He asked

"Who said we were going anywhere? Were bored" Mikey stepped out from behind the wall and laughed "We wanted to go downstairs and get a movie for us to watch. April said it was ok if we looked through her old films and pick out which one we like. Did you wanna come along?" He smiled angelically to top off his story. Mikey may be on the loopy side and a bit annoying at times, but boy could he lie.

"I have more work to do but you guys can go" Don smiled and nodded his head. "Don't stay down there too long though" He turned back around and continued his work. I think he would have caught Michelangelo's bluff if he hadn't been so disoriented.

Mikey and I walked _normally _the door leading to the shop. We walked down the stairs and crept through the rows and rows of antiques until we reached the door to the city. It was pitch black outside except for the occasional street lamps that lit up a few sections of the sidewalk. Once and awhile a pedestrian would walk past the huge store windows and stare in only for a second. Mikey didn't bring his cloak in fear that Don would grow suspicious but as long as we stayed in the shadows, like Mikey said, we should get to the hospital in no time, undetected.

"I still think you're insane for doing this" He said with a slight grin

"Why do you think I picked you to come with me?" I teased "Come on lets go"

**: Underground:**

I slammed against the wall with a thunderous force. The air rushed out of my lungs for a few brief seconds but came back once the huge mutant dog leaped at me with its powerful jaws open and ready to take its first taste of turtle. I used my hands to keep it from reaching my head. I pushed on its shoulders as its mouth snapped open and closed so hard its teeth were covered with small cracks. Its head got closer and closer to mine and I struggled against its powerful body weight to keep him off me.

I turned my head to the side and saw Raphael swinging his knife at the mutts but only cutting of chunks of fur at a time. To make matters worse, Hun decided to join the mutant rampage and being the unfair fighter he is, he went for Raph who was struggling the most. I snarled and got a sudden burst of adrenaline. I pushed the dog off me then clocked him right in the nose with my elbow. I watched as he whimpered the started to sniff the air. I stood perfectly still for some reason because the dog started stumbling and bumping into things

"Their blind…" I said in amazement "Raph the dogs are blind!"

"I'd have to disagree with you there bro!" He said as he punched one right in the gut as it leapt for him.

"They see you by smelling you! Hit them in the nose!" I yelled as I ran to aid my brother against Hun. I roundhouse kicked him in the chest and sent him flying back a few yards. Raph swung his knife and chopped the smeller right off one of the mutant dogs. He whined and rubbed his face against the floor, smearing blood for a mile.

"One to go…" Raph said

"One and a Godzilla" I responded, pointing to Hun who began to get up off the ground.

"No!" He watched as his creations were running around fearfully except one who went to his side. "You will not walk out of here alive!"

"I can't tell yah how many times I've heard that" Raph handed me the bloody knife "You get the dog, I got Hun"

I nodded in agreement. Whenever Raph volunteered to do the dirty work, I would usually reject his offer but considering the circumstances…I let him have the fun. I led the pooch away from its leader and got it to run after me. When it got close enough, I made a sharp turn and it went face first into the back wall. This one wasn't like the others…he didn't get up. He just laid there motionless with his feet straddled out to his sides.

I heard grunting and punches coming from across the room. I watched as Hun and my brother took turns delivering throws and receiving them. Most of the time Raph could dodge a simple blow but one uppercut sent him flying to my feet.

"Ow" I helped him up off the ground carefully, being cautious of his arm. It was getting worse too. The blood trickling down it was drying and the entry wound started to show small patches of pink skin. The veins around it began to pop up like a book and they were letting off a light blue hue. I'm not a doctor, actually I'm not even close, but I'm pretty sure that means blood poisoning.

"I'm calling it" I said

"What?! We gotta put the smack on this guy first!" He argued. I really didn't need this right now.

"Raph your arm isn't good. We need to get you back to Donnie!"

"Fine…" he agreed but suddenly he leapt for Hun with the knife. The knife he had given me, I hadn't even noticed he had taken it from my hands. Hun miscalculated how fast he was flying and let the weapon sink right into his upper shoulder. He instantly grabbed my brother and threw him against a beam on the ceiling with excessive force and then he fell in a death spiral all the way to the ground and was knocked unconscious. This is why I'm the leader! How am I going to get him out of here now?! I told him we needed to go but he didn't listen as usual!

Once again I became overcome with anger and I felt as if I wasn't even controlling my own body, as I ran towards Hun and jumped onto him, sending the knife deeper through his bone. He fell over in agony, screaming like a little child as I grabbed his white shirt and held him close to my face.

"How do we get out of here!" sweat dripped down my face and onto him. "HOW?!" I gritted my teeth and screamed but he refused to answer so I grabbed the handle of the knife and started to pull it out slowly. I was ruthless and I still felt as if someone else was controlling my body, making me do these outrageous things. "You better answer me Hun!"

He began to laugh, but it wasn't your typical humorous chuckle. "Remember when I said you would die here?" He said slowly then started laughing again. I slammed his head down on the concrete and stood up. Now I had two unconscious men, three delirious dogs and in need of a way out.

I searched the entire room. Not one window, not one door and not even trap door beneath the floors. I started to get frustrated but then I remembered. The tunnel we walked through to get here was cold so maybe if I move slowly around the room, I would find maybe a sudden change in temperature. I started in the shadows of the room where Hun and his gang disappeared while we were still chained up. I walked in slow motion, feeling every part of my body at the same time. I shut my eyes and sprawled my fingers out at my sides. I took deep breaths and felt everything that was troubling me just wash out through with every breath I exhaled. Then I began to hear things, voices but it wasn't anyone in the room. It was the world around me.

This is what my master was training me for, to achieve a state of meditation while still being mentally active. I had worked so hard to master this skill but why now, did it finally decide to work in my favor.

I could hear everything, car horns, people walking and talking and I could even hear what I thought were the footsteps of scurrying mice. Besides the songs that swung through my head, I could feel all the temperatures that made up the world too. I was hot one minute and cold the next like someone who couldn't make up their mind. I found Raphael lying on the floor and ran to him. I didn't even have to touch his body to feel the cold starting to emerge off his till body. I could hear his quiet, slow paced breaths and the beating of his faint heart like they were being pronounced by a microphone.

When I touched his arm, I suddenly heard a girl's voice. I wish I could say it was one unfamiliar to me but I knew it all too well. Austria, and I sensed that Michelangelo was with her as well. I concentrated hard and tried to get a better understanding but I wasn't strong enough yet. All I could hear was their bleak conversation as they headed down the streets of New York City.

"Alright this is it" She said "How do you think we get in?"

"The front door…" Mikey responded in a retarded tone "Most hospitals have one"

Hospital? First of all I clearly remember me telling them to stay inside at all times. I felt a shock in my head and then Raph began to stir while his eyes flickered open revealing his white pupils.

"Raph!" I hugged him awkwardly as he sat up off the ground and pushed me off. "I knew you'd be ok but I wasn't sure"

"Bro…where's Hun?" He looked around the room.

"Don't worry about him anymore. I dealt with it. Right now I need you to help me find a way out." I picked him up off the ground and used my body as a support for him to lean on.

"How'd you know I'd be ok?" He asked with great curiosity

"Remember why I was so grumpy the last couple of months?" I smiled at the memory

"Yeah you were trainin for that praying thing. Man you were a bitch. Not that you aren't anymore." He responded with a smirk

"Bushido Meditation…and I think I got it down. I can feel everything, the world around me, your heart, your breaths; it was like everything was spinning around in my head waiting to be absorbed"

"Yeah Yeah bro that's great now cmon let's get outta here and get back to Austria and the others"

I hesitated "We might not get back to Austria. She went to the hospital with Michelangelo"

Raph looked at me abruptly and got in my face. "What!?" He spat "We gotta go now!" He started to hop along with me at his side

"Whats wrong!? I know she didn't listen to a damn thing but…"

"She's goin to see her dad! That bastard got transported to the hospital near Central Park and I bet you my ass and shell that's who she's goin to see!"

I can't believe I had been so blind. I was so focused on getting revenge on Hun and the Purple Dragons that I totally forgot that the vengeful Austria would most likely try to take out her father given the chance. But I couldn't find a way out and we were trapped down here. For all we know Hun is a time bomb. I hadn't killed him and who knows when he would wake up.

"Search everywhere!" He said

"That's what I've been doing! I was trying to feel for a cold spot but…"

"Good idea. Let's look around" He said. We hopped around the small room and took extra time to try and feel for some weak spots on the cracks in the wall. We would occasionally tap our hands and feet against it and listen for anything hollow indicating a break.

"Wait bro go back I felt summthin" We went back slightly "It's cold" Raph waved his foot in front of a board of wood that was leaned up against a wall. I knocked on it and listened and almost laughed with joy. There was no echo

"I think this is it" Raph used his foot to cave in the board. Immediately, goose bumps rose up off our sweaty skin. We looked at each other and smiled "Let's go home"

**Sorry this chapter is late. I'm having internet trouble so I might not have as many chapters uploaded until it gets fixed. I drove all the way to a friends house to get this uploaded lol xD **


	17. Chapter 17

**FINALE**

: Chapter 17:

"Ok, now that you know the plan, tell it to me so it sinks into your brain" my own brain had totally shut off before we left the apartment. I forgot Mikey would need to actually go _inside_ the hospital and I told him not to bring his cloak. He made fun of me the rest of the walk there about how I was wrong and he is always right. The hospital was cut off from the rest of the city so there were plenty of places to hide from the crowds of people who walked in and out those doors every few minutes.

"You go in, find what room your dad is in, tell me and if things get ugly you'll wave your hand out the window then I jumped up to rescue you" He swayed back and forth as he spoke with a childish smile on his face and I knew what that meant when people used those kinds of gestures.

"You don't think this will work do you?" I frowned

"Yes I do!" He snorted and held his fist over his mouth

I looked at him with a blank stare "I'll be back. Stay here in the shadows and don't move" I whispered

"But what if you need me to get you?!"

I slapped him on the head "Then duh, you can move!" I stomped away with steps hard enough to put cracks in the concrete sidewalks. Michelangelo's negative attitude isn't what was upsetting me, maybe in the back of my mind he was right that this plan was a failure with a capital "F."

I walked through the huge automatic doors and almost instantly cleaning fumes filled my nose and made me gag. Two security guards looked at me as I made my way to the front desk. What are they for? What are they afraid someone is ganna come in and terrorize the patients?! Who would ever….Oh right.

"Hello" I had a bright smile on my face when I met the receptionist. She slowly picked her head up from the computer and looked at me. She was sloppily chewing a piece of gum, like a dog when it ate peanut butter. She just stared at my eyes in the other direction.

"Can I…help yah?" She cocked her head and flicked her long red nails

"Uh yes actually, I'm here on visitation" I paused and she continued staring at me, dumbfounded.

"Well who are you here for?" She finally spat out, almost losing her gum in the process

"Lewis Westly" Saying his name made chills run up and down my spine

"Just a second" She typed some things into her computer and took deep breaths of air and let it out like the big bad wolf trying to blow a house down. "He's in room 42E. You're his first visitor. How sweet" She said with extreme sarcasm "I'll let Mr. Lewis know your coming"

"NO!" I yelled so loud the two security guards, put their hands on their belts and took a few steps towards us. "I mean…if I'm his first visitor, it should be a surprise. Wouldn't you like to be surprised if someone came to visit you in the hospital?"

Her mouth dropped open a little and her eyelids slowly descended to meet with her bottom ones. "I guess…"

"Great…can you point me in the right direction?" I asked politely. This was just too much fun.

She rolled her head and leaned over the counter "Go down that hall, make a left, take the elevator, go up to the third floor and ask those people where he is exactly."

"Thank you so much. I know that was a lot of work but thank you" I slowly backed away from the counter and walked back out the doors into the parking lot. I was smiling the whole way to meet Michelangelo but once I turned the corner to meet him…

"Oh dear…"

Donatello didn't look happy at all. His hands were on his hips and he was glaring at me. You could tell he was trying to get upset over the situation but just couldn't pull it off once he opened his mouth to speak. He stopped and crossed his arms and looked in the other direction.

"How did you know where we were?" I asked politely. I had a feeling he was one of those people who are literally like a time bomb. Just the slightest misjudgment and they go off.

"Leo and Raph got back…" He started, now looking at me but not in the eye "For some reason they knew where you were going but were in no condition to come get you so I had to" Mikey was sitting in the grass, plucking the small blades from the ground one by one with his head leaned against his hand. I started to get that feeling in my chest, that guilty feeling.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have dragged Mikey into this" Don raised a brow at me like what I just said was totally beside the point

"That's totally beside the point" His voice started to rise. Like I said, he was time bomb. "If you wanted to do recon you should have brought me instead"

I was frozen. "Wait…you're not ganna yell at me?" I was so confused. He laughed and put his hand on my shoulder

"Me? Yell at you? Never in a thousand years. I did yell at Mikey though. Well, I wasn't really yelling because I don't yell really…" He gave me a half smile in his failure to scrounge up the right words. I was so glad he was here and on my side too.

"Did Leo send you to yell at me though?" I asked

"Yea..." He looked at me innocently. I was so flattered and touched that he would go against Leonardo's commands and assist me.

I don't know why but I suddenly started bawling like a baby and hugged him like my life depended on it. I felt like I needed to just tell him my feelings for him and hope that he felt the same way but instead I heard gasping come from him and his little brother who know was in my face with his jaw dropped.

"Aus…" He pointed to the ground where I was standing and where my tears had fallen onto the cement. Small purple flowers began to poke there radiant pedals through the cracks, where my feet had stomped not too long ago.

"You are different…" Don said in a hushed voice as we watched the plants grow as big as a football until they finally stopped. Their scent seemed to travel for miles because people passing by were already beginning to smell their aroma. It was something I had never smelled before; it seemed to be a mix of things but they were a mix of feelings instead of actually scents. As the pedestrians noticed their presence they began to become emotional. If they were with a spouse, they would suddenly grab hands and kiss. If it was siblings, they would hug out of nowhere and cry together.

I knew I was different too, but all I knew was my ability to heal. Maybe I can heal more than outside wounds. Maybe I could heal the ones inside as well. I plucked one of the flowers from the ground but it instantly disintegrated in my palms. Without the ground it was worthless, just another thing that would blow away in the breeze.

"Leo told me that Hun had loads of information on you. That you could do things no ordinary man could. I know you came here to find out why your father was trying to kill you but maybe he could tell you about this as well" He grabbed the flower's ashes from my hand and held it close to his face. It suddenly began to dance in his palm then gracefully fall off and blend into the night.

"I'm just ganna take a nap now" Mikey fell onto the grass and moaned

"I better get moving then" I released myself from Donatello's warm embrace and watched in horror as the beautiful flowers that were created from my tears, shriveled into brown pea-sized balls then disappeared into thin air and they smell went with it, along with the once loving environment as people began to put distance between themselves. "That was…strange" I was so creped out by myself that I just wanted to get away from them before they started to look at me as some kind of freak.

Donatello had his duffel bag with him and I didn't notice he had it laid in the grass "I came prepared of course" He pulled out his cloak and hat and put them on. "I only brought one set unfortunately so Mikey…"

"I'm staying here, you guys have fun!" He grabbed Donnie's bag and ran up into a nearby tree. I don't blame him for wanting to put distance between us. I think we both had enough freaky for one day.

"Ready?" I asked "You know you don't have to do this"

"I know, I want to" He smiled and entangled his fingers between mine. As we walked towards the hospital doors I swear on my life I suddenly smelled a familiar aroma and watched the crowds of people, began to display their affection.

**: Mike's POV:**

I am so out of here! I stayed in that tree for maybe six seconds when the better side of me told me to get the shell out of there! Yeah, Austria is cool and everything but what just happened, with her emotions and all…I think my childhood is officially over cuz that was just bazaar! I ran through the shadows like a wolf in the night barely making a sound even with Donatello's 800 million pound bag.

I made it back to the lair in maybe seven minutes, using the rooftops as a faster transportation. When I walked through the doors I was bombarded with questions, questions and more questions! I just stood there and closed my eyes and dropped Donnie's bag then I stood some more until April and Casey shut the hell up.

Once they stopped talking I walked over to the fridge and grabbed some comfort food and I really needed it once I looked over in the living room. Leo and Raph where lying on either of the couches but they didn't look at all like the two brothers that left on a mission yesterday. They were almost colorless and like really skinny. They moaned as Master Splinter tended to their broken bodies. I dropped the pizza and ran over as fast as my little mutant legs could take me.

"Are they alright?!" I yelled but was hushed by my master.

"Mikey…" I was relieved to hear Leo's voice as I ran over and knelt by the couch. "You're so dead once I can walk again"

"Hey bro it was her idea" I laughed and he returned a smile "What happened to you guys? Did yah find Hun?"

Leo nodded painfully at the memory. I felt so helpless, and I usually am not the emotional, read you a story at bedtime kinda turtle. "Did Donnie tell you about Austria?" he said and I laughed now at my own memory.

"Bro, did he ever and have I got a story to tell you" I sat down on the floor and spilled the beans. I knew Don and Austria would kill me but I had this slight problem with keeping secrets. I told him about the flowers and the disappearing of the flowers and then the reappearing of the flowers it was just a mess. I also told him how the people did weird stuff when they were open. Sadly, I also may have accidently told him that Don is now helping Austria meet her dad face to face. Oops.

"What!?" Leo tried to get up but I put one hand on his shoulder and made him stay down. "Please tell me you're kidding Mikey!"

"C'mon bro you should have saw this coming. He likes her and stuff you know?" I tried to make the situation better but Leo just stared at the ceiling and breathed heavily with anger. So I tried once again but this time I tied to change the subject. "How's Raph?" I looked over to the dormant turtle on the other couch. He wasn't moving very much and his body was covered with a slick blanket.

"He's unconscious. Don fixed him up a bit before he went out to betray me." My big brother sighed and rubbed the top of his forehead. "I shouldn't have brought him. I should have just went alone"

I had to laugh a little at the irony of that sentence "That's what Aus said to Don about me" I giggled

"No, you should have known better and not gone out of the house" He said

I swear Leo tried to father me every chance he got. Don't do this and don't do that, eat your veggies; brush your teeth yadda yadda yadda. Well, he doesn't say all that but you get the point.

"Michelangelo" My Sensei walked up behind me and put a furry rat hand on my back "Let your brother rest"

I slowly got up but only moved a few paces to Raphael's couch and then sat on the floor next to him. "Hey Raph I know your kinda dead and everything…" I heard someone do a face palm and then I heard "Ow" and knew Casey Jones had probably smacked his forehead a bit too hard. "I'm here for you bro. everything is ganna be fine and dandy" I really have a way with words don't you think? Hey, I bet you he's feeling better already.

"Leo…" April walked up to him and knelt over a little bit "Do you want Casey and me to drive to the hospital and get them?" she asked. My Bro hesitated for a few seconds but eventually shook his head.

"This is Austria's fight and Donatello chose to be a part of it. Let them be."

**: At the Hospital:**

Don and I took the elevator up to the third floor. When we got out I hadn't realized how brightly lit this place was which is bad for a mutant turtle in disguise. Patients and nurses gave us second glances as we walked through the crowded hallway and to the reception desk.

"Hello, looking for room 42E" I said and the nice young man pointed to the room directly across the hall. "Thanks" I had ahold of Donatello's arm and dragged him the eight steps it took to get to my dad's room. I look at the number on the door and the name below it " 42E, Lewis Westly, Patient number 655" this was it. I put my hand on the doorknob but suddenly I couldn't move I was so scared. My heart started pounding and I could feel Donnie's too. We were both afraid, we didn't know what to expect but if he wasn't here with me, I probably wouldn't have the guts to walk through the threshold. I turned the knob and slowly opened the door.

"Do you want me to go in first?" He asked. I appreciated his concern for me but I needed to do this on my own or have to live up to the fact that I needed someone to help me meet my own father.

"I'm ok…just catch me if I faint" I laughed

"You won't, just take deep breaths". You can do this and I'm right here if he tries anything" he said with a delicate smile

I realized what he meant by that. He was going to wait outside of the room while I went in. He really did understand how much this meant to me. "I won't be long" I took a deep breath like he said, and walked in.

"Whose there?" I heard his unfamiliar voice. There was a curtain separating the door from his living space so I slowly pulled it to the side and revealed my face to him. His face looked horrified and he grabbed a small remote that was sitting on the side table next to him. "You're here to kill me aren't you?" The bed was definitely ten sizes too small for his fat, un-nurtured body. I felt bad for the person who had to help him in and out of that thing.

"I'm…not here to kill you. I just came for answers" I was calmer than I thought I would be but I think that had something to do with the protective mutant standing outside the door.

"I have nothing to say to you. Now leave before I call the nurse" His skin was pale which made his pimples more illuminate on his face. His slick black hair was draping over his eyes and looked wet. Beams of sweat dripped down his face and drenched his clothes and sheets. "You're friend nearly killed me Aus"

That was the first time in my life I ever heard him use my nickname. He always addressed me as "Austria" or "Brat." "Well you tried to kill me Lewis" I know he's my dad and that's how I should address him but I couldn't. It was like all my feelings for him were blown away by the wind and all that laid before me was a total stranger who had information I needed.

"I had a reason…they were…"

"Out to get you I know. You wanted to kill me to save your own ass" I crossed my arms and looked down at my feet in my own father's shame.

"No that wasn't why" His voice sounded so serious. I looked up at him with tears started to flood my eyes.

"What?" All this time I thought that was the reason, now he's saying it's not? Then again he could be lying but there was something about his look that made me know this was the real deal.

"I'm sure you have figured it out by now. You're a smart girl Austria and I always knew you would become something great. That was until you were seven years old. They wanted revenge for my betrayal, The Purple Dragons, they found out about you and wanted you dead because they knew how much you meant to me"

"Stop" I was wiping tears from my eyes like they were coming from a faucet. I knew all I had to do was give the word and Don would get me out of here but I knew I needed to stay. "You never cared about me"

"Of course I cared about you. The dragons told me if I got rid of you they would stop trying to kill me but that wasn't why I tried. They wanted me to bring you to them, so they could have your powers for themselves. Austria, you're a superhuman. I stole from the Dragons on a heist to help create you and your mother never even knew about it until I slipped your egg into her womb with a needle while she was asleep. When you were born I was the happiest man alive but not because my research was successful but because I got what I always wanted, a baby girl"

I had to sit down in a chair before I lost my balance and fell over. "How can I believe you?"

"Because that's why I tried to kill you, to save you from the torture the dragons were going to inflict on you one day" He tried to smile

His heart monitor started to beep rapidly and his breathing became heavier the longer we talked. Donatello slipped quietly into the room, probably getting anxious from the noise. My dad looked surprised. "Is he?..."

"No he's not the one who attacked you. This is Donatello. He's been protecting me from The Purple Dragons" I quietly said

"You listen here son, you keep this girl safe. Even at the cost of your own life you keep this damn girl safe. She's not just some mutant made in a lab, she's part of the bigger picture. The Dragons can't have her and I am ashamed for thinking her death was the answer. I am so sorry" I saw tears run down his face and his voice cracked. I found myself crying as well but Donatello stood strong and unmoved by his emotions.

"I'm sorry for being so hard on you baby, I'm so sorry. I didn't want your mother to suspect anything" He wiped the tears from his face and sniffled. The numbers on his monitor started to climb and the beeps became closer together. My father was dying, and he wasn't going out a monster, he was going out as Lewis Westly, my dad.

"You're going to be something great Aus, I wish I could have been more of a father to you." He reached out his fat beefy hand to me. I hesitated and looked at Don. He shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything so I walked up to my dying father and took his hand in mine. "You are so full of life. Here, this belongs to you" He reached over with his other hand and took something out of a bag hooked onto the sidetable.

"My camera!" I said as he handed it to me with gentle movements

"I was going to smash it, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Back at the house, I have a white lockbox with everything in it you need to know about yourself. I want you to get through this; I want you to show those Dragons what you're made of." He squeezed my hand harder as the beeping seized into one straight sound. He looked at me and opened his mouth "Austria I…" His eyes began to turn into a gray haze.

"What daddy? Don't go!" I shook him and started pouring tears from my eyes.

"I love you baby girl" He let out one last breath, then his grip on me loosened and his hand dropped over the bed.

"Daddy?" I was in utter shock. His eyes were lifeless and they stared across the room with emptiness. Nurses rushed into the room, screaming orders and pushing me and Don out. They shut the door behind them and I just stared at the number on the front of it "42E, Lewis Williams, Patient number 655" they were going to try and revive him but I knew they wouldn't be able to. I felt his soul leave his body; I felt his last breaths as if they were my own. He was gone and he left this world a hero. I held my cannon camera in my hand and tossed it from side to side. Somewhere in my house back in Brooklyn there was a room, in that room was a chest, and in that chest was a white lockbox, in that white lockbox, was my entire life on a few sheets of paper.

I turned to Donatello who took my hands in his and mouthed the words "I'm sorry" But I knew he wasn't. I sensed that even though my dad turned out to be a good guy, he still hated his guts. But all that didn't matter anymore, he was dead and that was that.

"What do we do know?" I asked him

"We find this box and figure out who you are" He smiled and hugged my shivering body. I felt a passionate sensation fall over me as I grabbed the back of his purple bandana strings and twisted them to shape my thoughts.

"It's you" I figured out

"Huh?" He pulled me away but kept a firm grasp on my shoulders

I wished I could tell him but I couldn't. He was the spark in my life, the thing that kept me going. I think I connected with him in some way no one could to another person. It must have something to do with me being "Superhuman" because I could feel everything about that made up his selfless personality. I know he couldn't possibly feel the same way I do unless he too can cry tears that turn into large purple flowers. I knew he would be with me to the very end and I didn't even have to ask him to know it was true. And then it hit me because that was why the flowers were purple.

**THE END**

**JK! Lemme hear you scream "Sequel Sequel Sequel Sequel!" Of course there will be a sequel! I will take a break from this and try to write some other stuff. Oh and read the prologue…I'm going to label it "PROLOUGE" and I know, I hate too prologues but their important.**


	18. Prolouge

**:PROLOUGE: **

The first day of school was the second worst day of my life next to when my father died after letting all his emotions spill out at my feet. Mrs. Dean was my English teacher and a real nut job let me tell you.

"Ok class looks like we have a new student! How about a round of applause!? And remember, we all had a scary first day of school too! so be extra nice" Mrs. Dean hopped up and down and clapped her hands faster then the speed of light. The class joined her and clapped for me then one of them coughed and said "Loser."

"Please share with the class your name and why you're here plus two exciting things that happened to you over the last year." She took a seat at her desk and got out a pen and piece of paper that I guess she was going to use to write down the things I was about to say. Talk about jeepers creepers.

I sighed and stood up to face the classroom which was smell yet very well lit with windows on the right side of the room. "Front of the room sweetie. Let us see your beautiful face!" I sighed again and walked backwards so I was in front of the giant chalkboard. I hoped this was eleventh grade English and not Kindergarten Social Studies where we learn how to interact with our peers by clapping and complimenting our beautiful looks.

"Hi I'm Austria Westly"

"Let's hear your middle name too!" She said brightly. She reminded me a lot of Effie from _The Hunger Games_ which was one of the books I got to read at my other school back in Brooklyn. At least she didn't look anything like the crazy woman but if she did I would be halfway to Canada by now.

"AUSTRIA SUDAN WESTLY" I screamed and the entire class cracked up in laughter and I didn't know if it was from my lack of respect or the retarded name I burdened. "My parents were drunk when they named me" They started chuckling again and that's when I noticed a familiar boy sitting in the front of the class with his eyes draped by a sweatshirt. Hunter, he was smiling brightly at me and I sure hoped he forgot everything that happened that one night not to long ago. Yeah, that one night when he and Don almost murdered each other and then Hunter almost got squashed by a purple dragon.

"So uh…what was the next question?" I asked Mrs. Dean who was smiling at me with curiosity.

"Tell us why you're here and two experiences you had over the past year" she cocked her head and grinned, revealing tons of dimples and wrinkles in her cheeks.

"Well I'm here because…well let's just face it life sucks. I ran away from home and I am now residing here with my…Aunt April" I smiled, satisfied with the lie. "Two exciting things, well, where do I start? I know Hunter." I gestured to the muscular kid "I found him looking at dresses in _Gilly Hicks_" The class started cracking up for the third time and I heard our teacher mumble "Looks like we got another clown"

Hunter was a popular kid because everybody slapped him and the shoulder and praised him. "What can I say? I'm a real drag queen and those dresses were…" He slapped his cheeks with his palms and fluttered his eyes "Gorgeous!" I even had to laugh at that as he raised his pitch on the last word.

"Class! Let Austria Sudan Westly speak" She commanded. I looked at Hunter with a crazed expression and one girl yelled "She does that!"

"Something else, something else…" I tapped my toe on the ground and rubbed my chin. "I met the most amazing person in my life" I didn't notice but my tone got all serious. "He saved my life actually, multiple times! It's weird though, most people never would have guessed a guy like him would be capable of so much. He has so many emotions and feelings but he expresses them in such a way that when he does show them, he never hurts anyone."

The class seemed to be enwrapped in my words as if they all know what that feeling was like but in reality, they had no frickin idea.

"Is he like your prince charming?" One girl asked with pig tails and glasses

"Sort of. Except I'm not allowed to see him" I frowned

Leo was furious that night we got home from the hospital and "Grounded" me from seeing Donatello except on the weekends. He said "I was a bad influence" but c'mon, he was jealous that I chose the least likely of them. Or so he thought.

"We all have that prince or princess charming. That someone that lights the fire in our hearts and when it's out from all the misery we go through, sparks it again with a simple touch or smile. He's out there girls, she's out there guys. Go find them. It might do you some good" The class clapped for me and I took my seat which I now realized was next to Hunter.

"You're pretty good with words sis." I'm pretty sure he just friend zoned me. Not that we were ever anything but. "By the way, I remember that night. You got me obsessed with finding those creatures. I never knew anything like them existed and you know they best part? You can help me find them. They were protecting you weren't they?"

I swallowed hard and couldn't speak until my throat stopped shaking. My hands turned into sweat waterfalls as I clenched the bottom of my shirt for stability. "What are you talking about?"

"C'mon Austria you know what I'm talking about. Who were those guys?" He asked

I had to ignore him in fear of giving away my friends identity. Apparently Leo didn't punch him hard enough.

**Update: Sequel is up! _The Prodigal_****_ Daughter_**


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